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Select board debates timing and scope of police organizational study and regional fire feasibility study
Summary
Town staff presented Article 19 (a $100,000 police organizational assessment) and Article 20 (a $50,000 fire services regionalization feasibility study) and board members debated whether to run the studies concurrently, the adequacy of vendor quotes and the risk the town could shoulder costs if partners do not contribute.
Town staff explained two warrant articles on the agenda: Article 19, a $100,000 police department organizational assessment intended to produce a 10‑year strategic plan with community input, and Article 20, a separate fire services regionalization feasibility study (Westborough’s share cited on the warrant at $50,000) that would partner with Southborough.
Staff said the 2019 police review focused on patrol staffing rather than a comprehensive organizational plan, while a 2018 fire department study had been more expansive (staff said it contained roughly 75 recommendations). Staff said separating the studies lets the fire feasibility work focus on regionalization questions and state partnership possibilities and prevents spending on a strategic plan that might be incompatible with a future regional model.
Board members raised budgetary and sequencing concerns. One member asked whether it would make sense to defer the police study for a year or two until more information about potential regionalization or a planned substation is available; staff and the chief countered that delaying could harm an already short-staffed department and that the police study’s ten‑year horizon supports moving forward now.
A board member asked whether a detailed scope of work and specific vendor quotes exist to justify the $100,000 figure; staff replied that the $100,000 is based on quotes the chief had gathered and that the police scope is more developed than the newly proposed fire feasibility scope. Board members asked for a draft scope to evaluate whether the proposed funding is sufficient and whether partners (for the fire study) have committed matching funds.
The transcript ends with unresolved questions about cost-sharing, whether Southborough or other partners will contribute to the feasibility study and whether Westborough could be left covering the full cost if external funding does not materialize. No vote on either article is recorded in the provided transcript.
