RECC Alternatives

This letter was received by Longmeadow Buzz from Jeffrey Klotz

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Mr. Crane,
 

Having reviewed the Hampden County RECC Feasibility and Technology Study Report prepared by The Carell Group, Inc, I have a very hard time understanding why you choose, at the point, to push forward.

In the Executive Summary (page 7) the report indicates that the basic premise for basic cost effectiveness of plan implementation is based on the receipt, from the State, of a 200% 911 Subsidy.  No where in the report is the certainty of the collection of this subsidy discussed, and the State has demonstrated that promised of reimbursement are not guaranteed.

Further in the Executive Summary it is clearly stated that "some towns would be net cost winners and others net cost losers.”  Longmeadow is presented 8 cases.  In 5 Longmeadow is a net cost loser.  In the other three, a 400% 911 State Subsidy is presented to establish Longmeadow as a net cost winner.

The report does not recommend for Longmeadow a 5-town dispatch center.  The report is at best inconclusive as it recommends 4 options.

• join a 5-town dispatch center
• join a 4-town dispatch center
• join a 3-town dispatch center
• stay a single town dispatch center, and transition to all civilian 911 dispatchers

The three recommendations in bold have yet to be explored.

The report clearly states that "Ludlow has something extra to gain by joining a RECC" (page 12), and that "Hampden would gain the most from a cost savings perspective" (page 10).  With implementation of a 5-town dispatch center, the taxpaying residents of Longmeadow would be subsidizing the residents of those communities.

Clearly selectmen voting to move forward on this project would be doing so against both fiscal and common sense.  Implementing a 5-town RECC is a losing proposition in many ways.

First, the numbers in the report show that for the Town of Longmeadow the only way the Town is a net cost winner is if the State 911 subsidy rate is 400%.  Second, the town's leadership has failed to explore any of the three other recommendations of the report highlighted in bold above.  And finally, a project of this size should not be considered in isolation when the town has other projects to consider such as Public Works, Middle Schools, and the Senior Center.

I support regionalism, but not regionalism whereby our Town residents are clearly paying more, losing a town resource (the Senior Center), and recommended options have yet to be explored.

Respectfully,

Jeffrey Klotz, CPA, MBA

487 Converse Street