Editor's note: For the next three weeks, Brookfield-Elm Grove NOW will ask each of the mayoral candidates to answer a question from one of our readers about an issue facing the city. To submit a question for the candidates, visit BrookfieldNOW.com.
Brookfield's participation in the Waukesha County Communications Dispatch Center has not met city expectations due to the large and growing coverage area in the center of the county. Are you willing to begin steps to take back our own dispatch center?
- Dottie Schwindt
Steve Ponto: The city of Brookfield has played a key role in the establishment and development of the Waukesha County Communications Dispatch Center. The center is working well now and continuing to improve. This is an example of how intergovernmental cooperation can save the taxpayers money.
It would be very expensive and wasteful for our city and other municipalities to go back to the old system of each building and operating its own dispatch center. I support intergovernmental cooperation like this, which provides good service and results in substantial savings to the taxpayers.
Thomas Schellinger: No, I am not willing to begin steps to get back our own dispatch center. Public safety excellence was one of the reasons I moved to Brookfield 25 years ago, and that tradition continues with the county dispatch center. The center complies with the standards and accreditations from several national associations for training, emergency processing, trunk capacity, emergency medical dispatching, staffing and retention.
The cost of establishing a dispatch center in Brookfield would run into the $3 million to $4 million range, not including maintenance costs. This intergovernmental partnership has saved Brookfield a small fortune while providing superior service.
Jeff Speaker: No. I reject the premise of the question.
Any consolidation of municipal services requires adaptation and hard work to ensure continued excellence. The provision of dispatch service is complex, and we have worked with the county to collaboratively find solutions to problems.
We are in a better position today as a result of the efforts of all stakeholders. Returning to the city managing its own dispatch operation would increase costs and require redundant efforts because the only dispatch function that can handle cell phone 911 calls is the county. By the way, over 80 percent of the calls are cell phone generated.
David Marcello: No. Brookfield should not be building and adding more layers of government. The director of administration will work with the county to make improvements where they are needed, just as he would if we ran our own dispatch center.
As mayor, I would look for more ways to save Brookfield taxpayers money through intergovernmental cooperation agreements such as this.
A more pertinent question is, should the city have a full-time mayor? The Common Council, under Mayor Jeff Speaker, saw fit to add a full-time director of administration. This position conducts the professional management of the city.
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