Even without state grant, town eyeing a 911 alliance

The town missed out on a grant and isn’t keen on a potential plan B, but officials aren’t giving up on the possibility of teaming up with Lincoln and Carlisle on a regional 911 dispatch. 

Town leaders hoped a state grant would cover $30,000 to $50,000 for a feasibility study but heard this month that they’d come up empty, Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said.

“We are very committed to advancing this project” in the current fiscal year, Lafleur told the Select Board this month. “We will figure out how we will move forward.” 

The latest regional 911 concept envisions a “hosted” model in which Acton would keep its dispatch in-house and accept payments to cover other communities’ needs. 

Carlisle officials emphasized this spring that they weren’t committing to a regional setup but wanted to learn more. 

The state has been incentivizing regional dispatching, which supporters say can limit burnout and improve 911 efficiency. 

But more than $135 million in funding requests outstripped $50 million in recently available grant money, and Lafleur said the state prioritized construction projects over feasibility studies. 

UMass Boston’s Collins Center for Public Management could run a study at no cost to the town, thanks to an existing state contract. Acton and Acton used this option to examine regionalization before their proposal fell apart in 2023.

Towns could use the Collins Center again or seek other funding, Lafleur said. 

Officials feel other consultants “have more technical expertise in this area,” she said, and think other firms “could provide us with a better product.” 

It could take well over a year to start a regionalized system, if the towns go that route. Lafleur has said a new arrangement could launch in the 2028 or 2029 fiscal year. 

Recent town data showed Acton dispatchers fielded 507 emergency calls in June, equivalent to roughly 17 per day. Staffers answered 3,143 non-emergency calls.

Select Board Chair Wendy Rovelli said she thinks “it’s a worthwhile endeavor” to pursue study funding.

“That way we understand what the real work would entail if we did it,” she told The Acton Bridge.