Milan signs on to central dispatching

By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer

GRANTS — A consolidated dispatch proposal is well on its way to becoming the reality after city council members Monday approved the joint powers agreement in a 4-0 vote.

What it means is that police dispatching for the city of Grants, the village of Milan and the Cibola County Sheriff's Department will be done from a central location at the old sheriff's department in the county complex.

City Manager Bob Horacek told the council the agreement needs to be approved by the council so it can be sent to the state along with a budget. The state is asking law enforcement agencies and fire agencies to get on board the consolidated dispatch bandwagon or if not, then miss out on some state funding.

Milan, Grants and Cibola County have been discussing the concept for months and have formed a formal committee to get the concept off the ground. Officials from each law enforcement agency are on the committee.

"If we get this into them (the state) by the end of this month and send them a copy of the budget plan, then they have indicated to us we will probably receive funding for consolidation by this next fiscal year," Horacek said.

Horacek said Milan has signed the agreement and he believes the county has signed it as well.

Councilor Fred Rodarte asked Grants Police Chief Marty Vigil about the consolidated dispatch concept.

"I believe it will work," Vigil said.

Vigil said once the city goes into consolidation he does not feel the city can back out. He also said the city of Grants has the most calls of the three agencies with about 13,000 calls per year now. "It will more than likely be beneficial to us as well as these other departments," Vigil said.

The police chief said the joint powers agreement has safeguards built in to protect the city should the consolidated dispatch concept fail.

Councilor Ruben Aranda said the former Grants Police Chief Fred Radosevich said consolidated dispatch was a bad idea. "What makes it a good idea now?" Aranda asked.

"I don't understand why he was indicating it was a bad idea," Vigil said. "The only thing I don't like about it is if we decide we don't want to continue to be a part of the consolidated dispatch system, we can't go back. Well, we can, but it would be very costly."

Vigil said he does not see consolidated dispatch as a "territorial thing."

Vigil said: "If we all work together to save a life, then it is all worth it to me." Vigil said as it is now when something happens other agencies need to be informed about it takes time to get the word out, whereas, with a consolidated dispatch center, the word goes out instantaneously.

Rodarte motioned to approve the joint powers agreement, Councilor Robert Ulibarri seconded the motion. Rodarte, Ulibarri, Councilor Eugene Green and Rodarte voted to approve the joint powers agreement.

In other matters the council:

• Appointed Ulibarri to be the city's representative on the Northwest New Mexico Solid Waste Authority.
  
  
• Approved drilling and equipping a new water well to ASCG. The negotiated price for engineering services for the project is $26,884 for the drilling phase and $49,946 for the equipping phase.
  
  
• Approved paying Hassell Construction $11,267.81 for site work preparation for a modular building and $122,985.15 to Morgan Building Systems for the actual modular building. The building will be across from the present Grants Headstart Campus and will house Headstart offices.
  
  
• Approved buying a firing line simulator for the Grants Police Department for $25,635.