A partnership between three North Shore communities to consolidate their police dispatch centers is apparently dissolving with Northfield’s decision to jump ship.
Northfield trustees met recently and abandoned consideration of an intergovernmental agreement with Winnetka and Kenilworth that would have called for the continued exploration of a combined police 911 service.
A December report from project consultant Elert and Associates recommended housing a centralized dispatch center in Winnetka’s Police Department, 410 Green Bay Road. For Northfield, that would mean closing its police department outside regular office hours, posing a potential safety risk, said Village President Fred Gougler.
“We felt it was important to keep the physical presence of that station open,” Gougler said, citing its proximity to the Edens Expressway and it being a 24-hour center for residents to go in the event of an emergency.
Gougler said he and trustees worried about what would happen if Northfield police needed to transport a prisoner during evening or early-morning hours to a joint lock-up facility in Winnetka when the village has two squad cars on the street.
“If one of them was going to be in the process of transport, that really cuts our coverage in half,” Gougler said. “Which would leave us, we felt, vulnerable.”
Another issue was financial — the Elert report didn’t indicate a significant up-front cost savings that Northfield was hoping to enjoy through a consolidation, Gougler said.
According to Elert and Associates’ report, the consolidated dispatch center would not begin saving money for the three villages until its eighth year.
Its annual operating cost was estimated at $1.43 million, which would save the three villages an annual $158,331 — about 10 percent of their combined $1.59 million current operating cost. It also estimated a $1.2 million capital cost to establish a consolidated dispatch center at Winnetka’s police department, 410 Green Bay Road.
Winnetka and Kenilworth officials said they are hoping to work with Northfield to address their concerns so the partnership could continue.
Gougler said Northfield is open to a continued discussion, but that the matter of closing the village’s police department in the evening and early-morning hours “is an important issue that’s going to be difficult to overcome.”
Winnetka Village Manager Rob Bahan said he is waiting for a report from Northfield before leaders from the three communities can sit down and discuss solutions.
“I really think that the concerns that have been brought forward have been reasonable concerns,” Bahan said. “We’ve worked through this as three communities to date, and it’s really important for us to get together as three communities and see if we can address them.”
Kenilworth Village Manager Bradly Burke said it is too early to know if a consolidated police dispatch center would work with Winnetka, but not Northfield.
“All this work has been predicated on the three communities working together,” Burke said.
He also stressed his village’s desires to continue looking for partners to keep a consolidated police dispatch center concept alive.
“If Northfield continues to express a desire not to participate, Kenilworth will have to explore other opportunities,” Burke said.
“With respect to Winnetka that’s certainly a fair statement here, too,” Bahan said. “I think there are some real efficiencies to be gained. We’ll just have to see who is a willing partner.”
Wilmette and Glencoe both declined to participate in the consolidated police dispatch study more than a year ago, officials said.
The three villages approved a $51,975 joint consulting agreement with Elert and Associates in March 2011. Under the agreement, based on their sizes, Winnetka paid $23,388.75, Northfield paid $17,151.75 and Kenilworth paid $11,434.50.
Delivered separately to the three villages’ trustees in December, the resulting report said a central police dispatch wouldn’t provide an immediate financial benefit, but it would improve service and position the towns well for costly anticipated technological upgrades looming on the horizon.
The concept would not have affected the number of officers on the street in the three towns — only the way in which incoming calls are received and handled, said Tom Pavek, senior vice president for Elert and Associates, during a December presentation.
A major benefit to the three towns would have been that a consolidated unit would allow for two dispatchers — one to answer the phone and the other to coordinate with emergency responders — rather than the single person in each departments’ dispatch centers currently, Pavek said.
Another benefit of the consolidation allowed for the three towns to upgrade technology and communication infrastructure.
“That opportunity is always out there and is something we can continue to explore even if we wouldn’t move ahead with a 911 center,” said Northfield Village Manager Stacy Sigman.
