Grosse Pointes

Pointes receive grant for single dispatch center

By K. Michelle Moran
C & G Staff Writer

GROSSE POINTES — A state grant has the potential to speed up the process by which the five Grosse Pointes might create a single emergency dispatching center.

On Jan. 20, the Michigan Department of Treasury announced the first round of newly created Economic Vitality Incentive Program grants. Proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder and approved by the Legislature, the $4.3 million in grant funding for 27 Michigan communities includes a significant chunk for possible creation of a single dispatch center and prisoner lockup for the five Grosse Pointes.

The Grosse Pointes qualify for a $300,000 grant, according to a press release from the Treasury Department. During a Jan. 23 City Council meeting, Grosse Pointe City’s city manager, Pete Dame, said the state would match the costs born by the cities by 50 percent, for a match up to $300,000. It’s one of the largest EVIP grants approved in this first round.

To receive the grant, Dame said the cities would each need to approve a resolution within the next 60 days that they’re willing to accept the money. Then, he said the cities would have to agree on an entity to oversee the dispatch center; the cities could create an authority with representatives from each community, similar to the arrangement used for trash disposal by the Grosse Pointes-Clinton Refuse Disposal Authority.

Farms City Manager Shane Reeside said the grant wasn’t on his council’s Feb. 9 agenda, but officials likely would have an opportunity to review it and place it on the March 12 agenda. He said the city managers would be meeting first to discuss the parameters of the grant and then would come up with recommendations on a proposed course of action for their respective cities. The grant would give the cities a chance to look at the exact upfront capital costs for a dispatch center, he said.

“Now we know there is some funding available,” Reeside said.

City Council member Christopher Boettcher, who praised leaders for landing grants like these, suggested that the cities could go “to a whole ’nother level” in terms of services through consolidation.

Although a single dispatch center was deemed too costly initially for the cities to undertake by the Ad Hoc Grosse Pointe Public Safety Committee in a report issued last year, the cities have been following a committee recommendation to enter into smaller mergers with their neighbors to save money. Last year, the Shores switched its dispatching and prisoner lockup to the Farms, and at press time, the City was still considering proposals from the Park, Farms and Woods to take over dispatching for that community.

Still, even if the cities were to receive the full grant amount, it’s expected to only cover a portion of the price tag for a new building, complete with dispatching stations and a secure lockup facility. At a time when all communities across the state are still struggling with falling property tax revenues, coming up with adequate funds could be a challenge.

“I think we’ll have to look at the costs,” Reeside said.

Another obstacle to a single center, Dame said, has been the need for space that could accommodate at least four dispatchers, as well as a prisoner lockup large enough for the five cities. He said none of the cities have space for that. However, the Farms owns a large parcel of land at Mack and Moross — roughly in the center of the Pointes — that could, at least in theory, offer a place to build such a center, should the Farms agree to that use. It’s one of the few sufficiently spacious vacant parcels in the community that could support such a venture, and besides its central location, it’s also in the middle of a commercial, and not residential, district.

In addition to EVIP funding for dispatch consolidation, the City and Park received a grant of up to $20,000 to help fund a study by an outside expert of a proposed merger between the public safety departments of the City, Park and possibly Farms, should the Farms sign on, Dame said. On Jan. 19, Dame said, the City formally sent a letter to the Farms inviting that city to take part in this consolidation; he said the Farms is scheduled to respond in February.

Additional EVIP funding for other projects around the state is slated to be announced when the governor gives a budget presentation Feb. 9.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer K. Michelle Moran at kmoran@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1047.