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February 22, 2007 - (Eagle Times) - "Contract for police coverage" - (Return to News)

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Contract for police coverage
Sheriff: We could save village $200K

BELLOWS FALLS - The Windham County Sheriff's Department could provide 24/7 coverage to Bellows Falls for $200,000 less than the village is paying now, Sheriff Keith Clark told the Rockingham Services Review Committee Wednesday evening.



For just under $600,000, Clark said his department could provide continuous dispatch and two-officer coverage to the village during the next two years.

Clark's proposed contract fee would include six patrol officers with eight-hour shifts, two cruisers and a sergeant to act as a liaison housed in the current Bellows Falls Police Department. The dispatch service would be located in the sheriff's department headquarters in Newfane.

"It's still your village police department, they would just be wearing a different uniform," Clark said.

An additional $100,000 would allow Clark's department to police all of Rockingham with an eight-officer patrol team and three cruisers.

At $700,000 per year for the next two years, the proposed townwide contract still would be less than the $800,000 Bellows Falls currently pays to run its own department, Municipal Manager John Schempf said.

Schempf said that figure is not likely to change much in fiscal 2008, despite a a recent vote by the trustees to cut coverage by 25 percent.

He pointed to dispatch as the biggest money-saving area for the sheriff's department. Where the village must employ five people to maintain 24-hour service, the sheriff's department expects to have to add just two additional staff to run their system around the clock.

Clark said other efficiencies arose simply because of the sheriff's office size, which makes everything from health insurance to administrative overhead a little cheaper.

Though several committee members found Clark's proposal, as Rockingham Selectwoman Leslie Goldman put it, "intriguing," some raised concerns about signing a contract with a department whose leader could change in four years with the next election.

Others wondered how a Bellows Falls or Rockingham branch of the sheriff's office would fit into a department whose responsibility encompasses the entire county.

"If something else happens in the county, would you yank them (deputies)," asked committee member and Saxton's River trustee Louise Luring.

"Maybe," answered Clark.

Ultimately, it likely would be area residents who decide whether those concerns outweigh the benefits of Clark's proposal.

"Although the trustees could do it, it probably would go to the voters," Schempf said.

"When you're talking that chunk of money, we'd be crazy not to," added committee member and Bellows Falls trustee Gary DeRosia.

Rockingham voters will have a chance to sound off on one aspect of proposals for townwide police/dispatch as well as fire/ambulance services at town meeting on March 5.

At that time, they will decided whether to vote by Australian ballot on those Emergency Services Review Committee recommendations at some future date.

"Yes" votes on either of the articles will mean the committee will continue its work. Two "no" votes would leave those efforts up in the air, though Schempf said he would take it as a sign it should call it quits.

In the meantime, Schempf said for $500 he has commissioned an outside consultant, Upper Valley Ambulance Service CEO John Vose, to check the numbers on the committee's fire/ambulance recommendation.

Those figures showed that, even after nearly $180,000 in expenses to start up those townwide services, Rockingham, Bellows Falls and Saxtons River would stand to save $90,000 a year in emergency services costs.

Matthew McCormick can be reached at mccormick@eagletimes.com or (603) 543-3100, ext. 104.
 

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