Bourne Says No to Taking Back Emergency Dispatch Services

Bourne FireBOURNE – Bourne will not be taking emergency dispatch back from the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office anytime soon.

Selectmen voted no on the plan recently, putting the move to re-store emergency medical dispatch services to the fire department on hold.

The service by the sheriff’s office began in 2004 and has been provided for free in exchange for the Bourne Fire Department’s ambulance service for sheriff’s office inmates and employees.

But the sheriff’s office has announced that they will bill the town $125,000 for this year’s service, which could escalate to $427,000 by 2020.

Town Administrator Thomas Guerino advised selectmen to not take any action yet, until he can meet with the town’s fire and police chiefs to devise a plan on how to best implement the service in the town.

“Recognizing that the cost for the town to undertake that internally would be significantly less, I think we’re going to look at that as an alternative,” said selectmen chair Stephen Mealy.

Those plans could take up to 90 days to develop and a new system wouldn’t be ready until at least July 2017, if the town moves forward on the plan.

“If capital equipment needs to be purchased or personnel need to be hired, we’d be ready by the spring town meeting in May of next year,” said Mealy.

By JUSTIN SAUNDERS, CapeCod.com Newscenter

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