Ledyard Mayor: 'We Remain In Discussions with Groton'

Ledyard remains in active discussions with Groton over the possibility of that town joining the Groton Emergency Dispatch center, Ledyard's mayor said.

Mayor John Rodolico said he is in negotiations with the Ledyard dispatchers' unions, and also in talks with both Montville and Groton about regionalizing. Groton submitted the least expensive proposal to Ledyard.

The discussion of whether to keep Ledyard a stand-alone emergency dispatch or regionalize with another community (or communities) is entering its third year. In December 2011, the Public Safety Commission formed a subcommitte, at the mayor’s request, to study the options.

Over the course of the next two years, requests for proposals were sent to Groton, Montville, Stonington, Quinebaug Valley , Waterford, Mashantucket- Pequot, and Ledyard itself. Proposals were received from Groton, Montville, QV and Ledyard. Rodolico said Quinebaug was ruled out quickly, and then the town administration spent four months ‘costing out’ the Ledyard plan, which was submitted by the dispatchers with no associated expenses.

“Groton and Montville provided specific costs,” he said. “Ledyard did not.”

Rodolico said he would not release either past expenses related to the dispatch operation, or the projected costs, because he is in active negotiations with the dispatchers’ unions.

“It’s not as simple as just looking at last year’s budget,” he said. He said he wants to change the current schedule the dispatch center uses, which is two on duty for the day and evening shifts Monday through Friday, and one on duty on the overnight shift and all weekend shifts. He wants two dispatchers on duty for all shifts, seven days a week.

“With a change to the schedule we have now, that makes (Ledyard) the most expensive” option, he said.

Of the three under consideration, Groton would be the most affordable, but that dispatch already covers Groton Town Fire, EMS and PD, Groton City FD, Parts of Stonington (Mystic FD, Old Mystic FD and Mystic River Ambulance), North Stonington Fire and EMS, Submarine Base Services (off the base proper) and L&M Paramedics. There is some concern on the part of Ledyard officials that with no plans to expand the Groton staff, that could negatively affect service.

Montville, on the other hand, has offered to give preferential hiring to Ledyard dispatchers in the expansion, and recently moved into its new, state-of-the-art police station/dispatch center. A concern with Montville is that they utilize part timers and do not have two/shift.

But Rodolico said there are concerns outside of cost. He said the state, which pays for the 911 service to the town and which also subsidizes Ledyard’s costs for dispatching Preston emergencies, is pushing communities hard to regionalize their emergency services.

“All the centers around us are regional centers with the exception of Stonington,” he noted. What happens in three, five, seven years? Having just Preston doesn’t make us ‘regional.’ If we build this new police center, and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on dispatch, what happens if, in a couple of years, the state says to us, ‘You have to regionalize’? With the system and the staff we have now, we can’t be regional.”

Rodolico said he is in talks with the two dispatcher unions and he is waiting to hear back from them after their last conversation about costs. In the meantime, he said, “we are still talking to Montville and we are having parallel discussions with Groton.”