LAWRENCE: Town hires private dispatchers

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Despite a last-ditch effort by the Lawrence Township Police Department’s 911 dispatchers to save their jobs, Township Council awarded a bid to a Cranbury based company to privatize police dispatching services that takes effect April 1.
   The iXP Corp. was awarded a two-year contract with the option to renew for three years, for a total of five years. The annual cost is $719,400. It was the only bidder that responded to township officials’ request for proposals under competitive contracting, which allows the township to accept the best — but not necessarily — the lowest bid.
   Lawrence Township’s decision to award the contract to the iXP Corp. means it is the first municipality in New Jersey to privatize police dispatching services. In its proposal, the corporation states that it is “the only company in the nation that has successfully outsourced a 911 communications operation” in Sandy Springs. Ga., which is a suburb of Atlanta.
   Township Council was ready to act on the bid at its Jan. 8 meeting, but delayed its decision for two weeks to allow Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun to meet with the dispatchers’ union. The dispatchers had asked for time to respond and possibly make changes to their contract.
   One of the major sticking points was the need to “backfill” the communications room with a police officer, because of a shortage of dispatchers. Of the nine 911 dispatcher positions, three are vacant. Per-diem dispatchers fill in some of the time, but a police officer sometimes has to fill in. Overtime pay for the dispatchers was also an issue.
   The iXP Corp. would provide enough dispatchers, however, which would eliminate the need to assign a police officer to dispatcher duty. The company would make efforts to hire the six 911 dispatchers who work for the Lawrence Township Police Department.
   Mr. Krawczun told Township Council that he, Chief of Police Daniel Posluszny and police Lt. Thomas Ritter met with the dispatchers twice since Jan. 8 to review the dispatchers’ proposals, but the issue of calling on police officers to fill in could not be resolved. He commended the dispatchers for their efforts to find a solution.
   The manager also pointed out that while the Lawrence Township Police Department is authorized for 71 police officers (including the police chief), there are 59 police officers. The Police Department has lost 12 officers through layoffs and retirements since 2008, he said.
   Mr. Krawczun acknowledged that while there are times when a police officer is at the Police Department, it is not because the officer has been assigned to perform dispatcher duties. Eliminating the need to backfill the 911 communications room would put one more police officer on the road for patrol duty, he said. It’s an efficiency issue, he said.
   Frank Herrick, who is a staff representative for American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 73 which represents the dispatchers, told the council that he believed there were some “very productive meetings” between the administration and the dispatchers.
   ”(But) for some reason, (the proposals were) never good enough. I think it is a horrible mistake (to privatize the dispatching service). I think it is a move in the wrong direction,” Mr. Herrick said. He suggested reaching out to other municipalities for shared services, instead of hiring a company to take on the task of emergency dispatching.
   ”The company is coming in here to make money. There is no profit margin in public safety,” he said, adding that’s why police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians are municipal employees. Hiring a private company to provide a service means the municipality loses control over how the employees carry out their jobs, he said.
   The meeting turned heated at one point, when resident Robin Williams challenged the decision. She attempted to turn the discussion into one about national Democratic Party politics and philosophy, calling on the Educational Testing Service and Bristol Myers-Squibb Co. to pay “their fare share” of taxes.
   But Mayor Jim Kownacki cut her off. He said Township Council members were elected to serve all of the residents, regardless of political affiliation. The dispatcher issue is not a political issue, the mayor said, adding that “what you are bringing up has nothing to do with Lawrence Township.” The five members of Township Council are Democrats.
   Mayor Kownacki also reminded Ms. Williams that she was among a group of Lawrence, Ewing and Trenton residents who opposed an application by Wal-Mart to build a store at 1060-100 Spruce St., near the Ewing Township border. Wal-Mart gained the Planning Board’s approval for the store in 2007, but dropped plans to build the store a few months later.
   If Wal-Mart had built the Spruce Street store, it would have been a source of property tax revenue for Lawrence Township, Mayor Kownacki said. There likely would not have been a need to lay off municipal employees.
   Police Officer Andres Mejia said there are concerns about the quality of the service that would be provided with a private company. He also pointed out that nine of the 58 police officers began their careers as dispatchers for the Lawrence Township Police Department, and that hiring the iXP Corp. would eliminate the 911 communications center as a “breeding ground” for potential police officers.
   Dispatcher Susan Handelman said that “we had two weeks” to try to resolve the issue, only because she had asked for more time. But every solution that was offered was not good enough, she said. The dispatchers are tired.
   ”It has been a really, really tough few months. Please, give it some thought. None of us wants to leave. If you vote (to award the contract to the iXP Corp.), we lose. You will, too. Please, just think about it,” Ms. Handelman said.
   Dispatcher Rich Lamont, who is one of the newest dispatchers, told Township Council that he is 26 years old and recently was married. He and his wife bought a house and thought they were on their way to fulfilling “the American dream.” What the township is doing by privatizing the service is wrong, he said.
   He said he was afraid for the other dispatchers because while he can find another job, it is not likely that they would be able to find work. He said he also has nightmares about what would happen if there were to be a shooting incident at Lawrence Middle School or Lawrence High School, referring to the Newtown, Connecticut incident — how would the iXP Corp. dispatchers handle it?
   Several residents also called on Township Council to reconsider privatizing the dispatcher services.
   Township resident Edith Pike said it is “dreadful” to outsource a service that is so vital. She said she could not understand why the dispatcher vacancies were not filled, which would have solved the issues of overtime and the need to “backfill” with police officers. While the iXP Corp. price may not be expensive now, its price will go up and “we will all be the losers,” she said.
   Mayor Kownacki summed up the issue, pointing out that “the whole issue” started in May when Township Council began to consider the 2013 municipal budget. The discussion included where and how to make budget cuts.
   There were calls not to cut the police, the paid firefighters and the emergency medical technicians, Mayor Kownacki said. Employees were laid off or positions eliminated in other municipal departments, he said, adding that reducing the number of employees “is not new.”
   The mayor said the township looked into shared services, but nothing worked out. Even if 911 dispatcher services could have been shared, there was no guarantee that some of Lawrence’s dispatchers would not have been laid off because of seniority, he said.
   ”This not a budget issue, this is a public safety issue,” Councilman Michael Powers said. The township’s population has increased, but not the number of police officers, he said.
   The police are “stretched,” Mr. Powers said. A court attendant was hired for Lawrence Township Municipal Court to “free up” a police officer for patrol duty, and the school resource officers, who were assigned to the public schools, were removed and put on patrol duty, he said.
   Councilwoman Cathleen Lewis agreed that it is a public safety issue and that the 911 dispatchers tried to find a solution. Hiring the iXP Corp. is an “imperfect solution to a horrible situation,” she said. But at the end of the day, public safety is the top priority, she said.