WESTFIELD and SOUTHWICK – The Westfield City Council Legislation and Ordinance Committee (L&O) June 9 discussed the proposed plan to implement a regional dispatch center for Westfield and Southwick.

Westfield’s full City Council is expected to review and possibly sign the Inter-Municipality Agreement (IMA) during its meeting June 17. Southwick Select Board member Douglas Moglin said that the Select Board would have a special meeting to approve the IMA if it is signed by the Westfield City Council.

After the IMA is approved by both the City Council and the Select Board, it will be signed by Westfield Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. and Southwick Chief Administrative Officer Karl Stinehart.     Ward 6 City Councilor William Onyski said state grant funding would then be made available to begin the project and set up the regional dispatch infrastructure.

Stinehart said during the L&O Committee meeting that this is Southwick’s fourth review of a potential regional dispatch project. He said the town had started the process five or six years ago, but that it did not work out with the other communities.

“We just want to get to the point where we can conclude these proceedings and come out with an agreement in principle to get signed,” said Stinehart.

Moglin said that one of the focuses of Southwick is to ensure that the town is not just a customer of Westfield’s, but a partner in regional dispatch. Should the agreement be approved by both communities, Southwick’s dispatchers will work in Westfield in tandem with Westfield’s dispatchers.

Westfield City Solicitor Shanna Reed said the terms of the agreement as of the June 9 meeting were for a three-year term that can be extended for three additional terms of two years, for a possible total of nine years before a new agreement would need to be drafted.

“At the end it would be another IMA, we would go through this process again,” said Reed, “During that time frame, maybe a full regionalization is something we can look forward to at that point.”

Reed compared the Westfield/Southwick IMA to WestComm, a regional dispatch center that is headquartered in Chicopee. She said the IMA is different from complete regionalization, which WestComm is supposed to become. WestComm dispatches for Chicopee, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, and Monson.

Reed said that the state grants would initially cover the necessary costs of the IMA. Westfield’s Public Safety Communications Center Communications Director Nina Barscz would apply for the grant on behalf of Southwick each year. As time goes on in the IMA, grant funding will slowly cover less of the cost.

“The grant will slowly cover less and less of the bill for the center, then Southwick will be writing the check,” said Reed.

Moglin said Southwick’s radio and dispatch infrastructure was “at its functional end of life,” one of several reasons that prompted regionalization.

Stinehart said people should not expect the project to be completed any time soon, even if the agreement is signed by the end of the month.

“It is going to take a while to implement this, everyone needs to recognize this up front,” said Stinehart.