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It is time for Milford

The purpose of warrant article 3 on the Milford ballot is to authorize the creation of a new Milford-run Dispatch Center located in an addition to the Police Station that will replace our existing long-term contract with the MACC Base Dispatch Center located in the town hall. I urge you to vote in favor of this warrant article.

The need for the complete upgrade of the existing dispatch system is clear. The current system is unreliable with frequent occurrences where speakers cannot hear each other, which is a major safety failure for our emergency service providers. The town hired CTA Consultants (a nationally recognized independent company) to do a full analysis of our current system and to provide a recommendation as to what is needed to solve the problems. Their comprehensive report, which is available on the town website, proposed that we install a system that matches the article 3 proposal. In short, this proposal is for the least costly system that develops a public safety grade dispatch system that should be basically viable for 20 to 30 years with normal maintenance over the years.

There are some citizens that argue that the existing system can be repaired with more modest expenditures, but that is not the case. The existing system is not public safety grade, and providing band-aid fixes to it will not upgrade it to a public safety grade system. NFPA 1221 is the code that was put into place after the 9/11 attacks that is used to ensure that our public safety systems will operate well in severe situations. One way to look at it is that the code “hardens” the infrastructure to make it more resilient to extreme events such as fire, explosions, bombings, hurricanes, or other similar rare situations. Upgrading the Milford town hall to NFPA 1221 code levels would be very expensive if it would be possible at all. Proponents of upgrading the existing system are basically saying that NFPA 1221 is not needed; my opinion is that it is very important, and if we are going to be spending millions of dollars on an upgraded system, then it is mandatory that we meet that code to ensure that we are in a good safe position for many years.

One other point is that there are some citizens that have a nostalgic affinity for the existing MACC Base Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA), but it is time to cut the cord with it and move on. The IMA has gone through many iterations over the last thirty years or so. In the beginning, there were about six towns that were members with none of them over 40% of the total, and it made sense at that time. Today there are just three towns that are members with Milford being 70% or 80% of the total depending on how it is calculated. The IMA governance structure is very complicated to run, and getting an agreement on issues is difficult due to the differences of outlook from the various towns. It is time for the IMA to be dissolved and that the interests of Milford be of foremost concern by simply operating it as a town department.

Milford is the 13th largest municipality in New Hampshire by population. 19 of the top 20 municipalities in New Hampshire by population operate their own dispatch center, some with additional municipalities connected in as customers, and some without. Milford is the only one that operates its dispatch center with an IMA. It is no accident that the other 19 municipalities run their own; it is time for Milford to do the same. The three other towns that currently connect into MACC Base are welcome to join the new dispatch center as a Milford customer; they would just need to provide their own infrastructure upgrades to make the connections work.

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