Council signs WESTCOMM as new dispatch provider

March 4, 2020 | Dennis Hackett

EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow Town Council met for a regularly scheduled meeting for the quarterly budget report and a joint meeting with the school committee as part of the annual budget process, along with a lengthy discussion about opting into a District Agreement with WESTCOMM.

As part of the town council’s annual budget process, a portion of the meeting was hosted in a joint session with the school committee to discuss some of the current challenges it is facing in regard to its budget. Superintendent of schools Gordon Smith said that one of the challenges the committee is currently facing is unforeseen costs in special education. “Over the last few months we’ve had some unanticipated and significant special education costs that have come to our attention,” he said. “We’re working through it and looking at every aspect of our budget and expenses, but we would like to come back and discuss that because it will have an impact into the next fiscal year.”

School Committee Chair Greg Thompson explained that the district has over $500,000 in unexpected costs that will roll over into the next fiscal year. He said, “That is something real that is occurring, and we are looking at our budget to find ways to pay for it, but we are struggling with the potential of making up half a million dollars and may have to come back before this council to ask for free cash transfer.”

Thompson added that the deficit has already impacted the district this year. “We’re going to directly impact education for kids this year because of the deficit that we’re running and we won’t know about extenuating relief until the end of the year when we’ve already lost those services,” he said.

After the joint session with the school committee, Town Finance Director Sara Menard quickly gave her quarterly budget report, during which she discussed where each department in town stood in regard to the 2020 budget.

During the meeting the council also held a second public hearing with Barrera Inc. about a liquor license transfer from GMRC, who is currently doing business as Fogueira, to open Casa Vallarta Family Mexican Restaurant after the council opted to hold off any decision until it received more information ahead of the Feb. 25 meeting.

Since the last meeting, the attorney representing Barrera Inc., Jeff Oppenheim, explained that he spent time during the two week break between meetings to speak to different town officials and answer some questions the council had at its last meeting before coming back. He said, “I’ve had a meeting with the town planner and I now have all the materials I’m told I need to file to the planning board. In addition I have attempted to answer all of the questions raised at the last meeting.”

One of the issues Councilor Patrick Henry brought up was concerns about noise caused by the restaurant’s mariachi band, since part of the building plan is to use the outdoor deck as part of the restaurant’s service areas. Oppenheim said, “The mariachi band is typically three or four musicians with no amplifications, it’s by no means a rock band but it is lively music. If there are issues with the permit, you can let us know and it’s ultimately in your hands.”

Ultimately the town council voted to approve the license transfer subject to approval of a special permit by the planning board.

The council also quickly approved three licensing matters, one for a change in manager at Bentley’s Bistro, a one-day liquor license for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church and a one-day liquor license for East Longmeadow Skilled Nursing Center.

The final order of business at the meeting was a discussion about entering a District Agreement with WESTCOMM to be the town’s new dispatch center.

Town Manager Mary McNally said that she thought now was the perfect time to sign the agreement. “It makes a lot of sense to proceed now, they want us, our chiefs are happy, it makes fiscal sense to and the timing is imperative,” she said.

One of the concerns brought up by Councilor Ralph Page was a question of how accurate emergency services would be when receiving a call from a cell phone at a regional dispatch center. Erin Hastings, the executive director at WESTCOMM Regional Dispatch said, “The technology has gotten better so we take the phase two wireless calls directly at WESTCOMM. Within 10 seconds of dialing, it pinpoints the phone’s location and maps it.”

The council unanimously approved to sign the District Agreement to make WESTCOMM the town’s new dispatch provider.

The East Longmeadow Town Council will next meet on March 10.

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