OCEANPORT — The success of shared dispatch services for the boroughs of Oceanport and West Long Branch has spurred a look at other shared services within their respective police departments.
Oceanport Mayor Michael Mahon explained in an interview earlier this month that the borough is looking at ways to save money, and a shared-service agreement may be one of them.
“The borough continues to talk about other shared-service opportunities and any other possibilities,” he said. “We are pursuing a variety of opportunities to make government more efficient, and beyond that we are just talking.”
Although officials from each municipality declined to discuss, both confirmed that they have had internal talks about expanding shared service agreements.
West Long Branch Borough Attorney Greg Baxter acknowledged that the borough has begun to look at the idea of expanding shared services.
“We are just getting off the ground with discussions,” he said in an interview. “It’s very early in the discussion phase, and our first meeting hasn’t actually happened yet.”
Since that time, the Borough Council held an executive session on Aug. 16 to discuss the matter.
However, Baxter said based on prior experience with the dispatching agreement, he expects talks to continue for some time, adding that shared dispatching was in discussion for more than two years.
In March the two boroughs reached an agreement to share dispatch and emergency communication services, with the service centralized at West Long Branch police headquarters. The two municipalities hope the agreement will save them a combined $1.3 million over the next five years. Joint dispatch operations began on April 1.
According to a joint statement issued by Mahon and West Long Branch Mayor Janet Tucci, Oceanport will pay West Long Branch $150,000 annually for the services, cutting the current annual costs for local dispatch by nearly 50 percent for both towns.
Baxter said the borough’s motivation is to cost-savings.
Mahon said that because of the nature of the talks, discussions will continue in executive sessions for the time being.
“Any matter that is legal or contractual and related to personnel is done in executive session,” he said. “It is fair to say publicly that the borough of Oceanport is discussing shared services with potential partners for a variety of borough services on an ongoing basis.”
Mahon said that so far, the dispatch agreement has worked and may lead to further agreements.
“The borough is currently operating under a shared-service arrangement for joint communication services,” he said. “So far, we are operating under that model successfully.
“That is up and running and moving along very successfully,” he added. “Any minor modifications will be made by the police administration.”
Mahon also explained that the borough has had a successful history of sharing services with its neighbors.
“At this stage, we have been very successful with several opportunities, with fire enforcement with the city of Long Branch, [and with the] court system with Sea Bright,” he said.
He also said that Oceanport has agreements for water management with Rumson and snow removal, lawn maintenance and Code Red with the Oceanport Board of Education.
Baxter also said the borough could look at how other towns operate to come up with an acceptable shared-service model.
“There is a great deal of track record of other towns doing this, it’s not like we are the only ones, but we still have to take a goslow approach so that all the questions are answered,” he said. “Hopefully, if we get that far, we are certainly going to study it.”
Contact Kenny Walter at [email protected].