Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regional Emergency Communications Center topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Westborough committee hears update on regional emergency communications district
Summary
Committee members were told that Westborough has joined a regional emergency communications district with Grafton and Southborough; the district is seeking construction grant funds, plans to hire an executive director and will ask the Select Board to approve a Westborough-based employee as fiduciary.
At the Dec. 19 Municipal Building Committee meeting, Speaker 4 updated the committee on progress toward forming a Regional Emergency Communications Center district. She said the project team held a public meeting on Dec. 12 to review design status and that recordings are posted on the town website and Westboro TV.
Speaker 4 said Westborough has already brought Grafton and Southborough into the planning effort and that other communities have expressed interest. The next organizational steps include hiring an executive director to staff the district and pursuing construction grant funding; the team plans to ask the Select Board in January to approve hiring the executive director as a Town of Westborough employee with grant-funded pay, with Westborough serving as the fiduciary for grant administration.
Why it matters: regionalizing emergency communications can centralize dispatch services, spread costs across municipalities and require intergovernmental agreements and governance decisions by the select board and town meeting.
Key details and next steps
- Public meeting: A Dec. 12 update was recorded and posted to the town’s website and Westboro TV; the presentation covered high-level design progress. - Participation: Westborough, Grafton and Southborough are current partners; more towns may join depending on population and capacity. - Staffing and governance: The project team plans to recruit an executive director to coordinate operations and to present a plan to the Select Board in January about hiring that staff person as a Westborough employee paid through grants.
The committee had no further action at the meeting; project meetings are held every other week and are publicly posted.
