Easthampton to hire director for regional emergency communication center

EASTHAMPTON — The city’s regional dispatch service will soon get a much-needed pair of helping hands, after the City Council approved adding the position of director to its Public Safety Communications Center — a role that will take the responsibility of an individual department head.

In January of 2024, Easthampton began dispatching Southampton police, fire and EMS services due to significant staffing shortages for the neighboring community.

Since the two communities entered the contract, known as the Regional Emergency Communication Center (RECC) agreement based out of the city’s Public Safety Building, Easthampton Police Chief Chad Alexander has acted as the dispatch supervisor, on top of his duties as chief.

“It adds a lot,” Alexander said in an interview with the Gazette.

Alexander said the addition of the new director will free up some of his time, while improving the quality and efficiency of dispatch services.

The chief answered questions from councilor’s at the Jan. 21 City Council meeting, where the position was approved unanimously. The agenda item was sent to the council following a unanimous vote from the Ordinance Committee.

“This position would take the responsibility of supervising the dispatch off the shoulders of the police chief who has had a lot to manage,” said City Councilor At-Large Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid.

According to the job description, the supervisor will serve as the dispatch department head, responsible for overall management, supervision and administration of the center that has about a dozen employees. With that comes oversight of planning, staffing and technology management to ensure emergency communications services stay up and running.

The role will be funded for the reminder of the current and next two fiscal years, if the city elects to opt into the next two years. This will likely happen, Alexander said, since there is no end date to the regionalization contract.

Alexander said at the Jan. 21 meeting that the position will be nonunionized and report to the mayor. While the dispatch budget is prepared by the police department, it has a separate section in the city’s budget.

Alexander explained to the Gazette that before regionalizing with Southampton, dispatch supervision was traditionally written into the chief’s contract. But adding Southampton’s dispatch services also added more oversight.

When the municipalities regionalized last winter, Alexander said that the Police Department’s office manager pitched in to help tackle some of that oversight. He noted that at that time, the clerical position was also working on reduced hours due to previous cuts to six employees.

“Her [the office manager] and I have essentially taken on extra roles to run the department ever since regionalizing. It’s overseeing more roles,” Alexander said. “It’ll be good, not only for my sake but my office manager’s sake.”

Alexander said one of the perks that came from regionalizing is that the state offers “fantastic amounts” of grant money, which funds large portions of police salaries including the new role.

After regionalization, Alexander explained that the state provided 911 grant funding to Easthampton. The funding allowed the Edward J. Collins Jr. Center for Public Management, known as the Collins Center of the University of Massachusetts Boston, to conduct a study of the city’s dispatch operations. The purpose of the study was to review current practices and recommend best practices and operational improvements, which lead to the recommendation to add a director.

That sparked Alexander to apply for the three-year grant that will fund the position. Based on the qualifications of the candidate hired, the position will pay between $38 and $53 an hour, or between $79,000 to $110,000 a year. The candidate needs to have extensive experience in public safety communications to be considered.

Part of the deal with the state and Southampton is that on all three shifts spread throughout the day, the department must have a minimum of two dispatchers at a time. In the contract, Southampton pays Easthampton a $175,000 fee each year.

Besides taking some of the workload of his plate, Alexander said the position is going to improve the department’s organization, efficiency and overall ability to provide city services. He said part of being a local dispatch service is not only helping in emergency situations, but also being able to provide a helping hand to anyone who needs it.

“Local dispatchers help with more calls to just help people,” Alexander said. “If someone is lost, if someone is elderly and needs help. We still get calls all the time for people looking for businesses.”

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