SOUTHWICK – A verbal understanding was reached last month between Westfield and Southwick for a full venture into regional dispatch that would combine Southwick’s emergency dispatch services with Westfield.

Westfield’s dispatch administrator Nina Barszcz said both municipalities are working on finalizing the Inter-Municipality Agreement (IMA) before they are voted on by Westfield’s City Council and Southwick’s Select Board.

At Westfield’s Public Safety Communications Commission (PSCC) meeting April 14, Barszcz said that Southwick’s dispatch center would close when they move their operations to Westfield. The dispatch center in Westfield would then add one more dispatcher and two additional staff members.

“It won’t be a huge increase in call volume,” said Barszcz.

She said that she has had operations meetings with both police and fire departments about what still needs to be done to get the regional dispatch center set up. Fiber cables will need to be installed to ensure that the center has the correct bandwidth.

Barszcz said that Westfield already provides some aid to Southwick in the form of police and firefighters when needed.

“I think we are the best fit for Southwick, and vice versa,” said Barszcz.

Once the IMA has been signed and voted on by both municipalities, the state 911 Department will give grant funding that will allow them to begin setting up the infrastructure and hiring the new staff.

“Once we’ve regionalized, our grant funding is going to quadruple,” said Barszcz.

During the April 14 meeting, PSCC member Richard Emmings said that he wanted to make sure both communities had” consistent” exit language that would allow them to leave the agreement if necessary.

Barszcz pointed out that exiting these types of ventures is not easy by design, and the state would not necessarily approve of an exit.