By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The town is considering laying off the civilian dispatchers in the Princeton Police Department to save taxpayers money, officials said this week., “It would be a big change,” Mayor Liz Lempert said Tuesday about outsourcing the functions handled by nine employees. She said the town intends to seek pricing information from vendors that provide that service, to see if their numbers match or come close to the cost and saving projections the town is using internally., She said officials do not have a timeline for making a decision, although she would expect officials to make up their minds this year., For his part, police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter said Wednesday that he was aware of three police departments in Mercer – Lawrence, East Windsor and Hightstown – that privatized their dispatch service. He said he would have to “educate myself on the benefits or the drawbacks on it.”, The mayor said if the town does hire a vendor, the new company would operate out of the current dispatch center in police headquarters, as opposed to elsewhere outside the town., She said the dispatch center is short-staffed, so that means police officers have to fill in, taking time away from other duties they might perform., Police dispatchers are unionized. If they get laid off, they would be eligible to apply for a job with the private company that gets a contract from the town. A spokesman for Teamsters Local 676, the union representing the dispatchers, could not be reached for comment., The discussion comes with the town in the midst of municipal budget season. Mayor Lempert said privatizing police dispatch likely would not happen in time to help this year’s budget, but the step is seen as helping municipal finances in the future., To save about $70,000 a year, assistant municipal administrator Jeffrey C. Grosser will serve in the dual capacity of municipal health officer, Mayor Lempert said. He has been the health officer since 2014 and got promoted to central administration last year., “I think it’s a good idea,” said board of health chairman Dr. George DiFerdinando by phone Wednesday. He did not expect Grosser to be stretched too thin in juggling both responsibilities., For doing both jobs, Grosser will get a $20,000 stipend on top of his $104,000 salary as assistant administrator, the town said., To help pick up the slack, the town intends to pay for additional coverage by public health nurses that the municipality contracts with, Mayor Lempert said.
