The Barrington Hills Village Board voted Monday night to table the decision on outsourcing the village’s in-house 911 emergency call system operation to the Carpentersville-based QuadCom, a consolidated 911 center. The board will reconsider the matter at its Feb. 23 board meeting.
The decision came after several residents spoke out against the outsourcing, which is estimated to save about $125,000 in 2015. The outsourcing could save the village $241,000 in 2016 and $317,000 in 2017, according to estimates from the village.*
Read more from the Barrington Courier here.
*Editorial note: To our knowledge the Village has not provided any financial estimates regarding consolidation other than those contained in the third-party “PSAP Concepts and Solutions LLC” report.
This reporter for the Barrington Courier is so biased in favor of the Abboudites on our boards in her reporting it’s disgusting. Tune this noise out and cancel your subscriptions.
No matter where you stand on the 911 issue or other important issues affecting VBH, isn’t it a welcome site that there is actual discussion, analysis and open debate among some Board members, experts and engaged residents regarding which 911 system to use.
The dictatorial way of the past introduced by former Village President with the aid of his submissive “Save 5 Acres” majority Board will truly become a thing of the past.
Irrespective of the final decision on the 911 system, I hope all can appreciate the benefit of what an open and fair process can due for a community like VBH . . . . this is something residents in VBH have not experienced for many years now. A most recent example of “gaming the issue” was the “process” all experienced surrounding commercial horse boarding legislation at both the ZBA and BOT level.
I am convinced with President McLaughlin at the helm, BOT backroom deals, pre-rehearsed strategies and votes intended to benefit favored “special interests” and “friends of the program” is a thing of the past in Barrington Hills.
In otherwords, VBH will return to the way it was before John Rosene’s strategy platform paper dividing VBH residents into “equestrian” and “non-equestrian” camps. You know, the paper which stated equestrian interests should solicit money from “non-equestrians but in general, “non-equestrians” were not welcomed in VBH. Unwelcomed so much so that perhaps consideration should be given to shooting “non-equestrians” with the help of the NRA.
You know, before these same Save 5 Acres political miscreants dressed BOT candidates who did not share their style of politics in “hoodies” in campaign liturature to look like Trayvon Martin, a teenager who violently lost his life at the hand of another’s firearm.
Let’s hope the campaign party of SOS f/k/a Save 5 Acres can raise the bar of decency a little higher this election season by opting not to bring voters the [S]ame [O]le [S]tuff designed to divide the community into “us” versus “them”.
It is a fait accompli that after the April election there will be yet greater VBH government transparency, fair play, accountability and competence as residents say goodbye to 3 more “Five Acres” BOT members bringing the number down to 2, Gohl and Harrington, which for them, will take another 2 years.
Think about it, a Village government which will serve and treat [all] residents equally irrespective of whether you own a saddle or mercedes and whether or not you are a friend of the program.
Now that is change all “fair minded” equestrians and all non-equestrians can believe in.
Whether you are in favor or against the outsourcing 911 issue; unlike the passage of the Horse Boarding amendment there is some constructive dialogue coming from all sides. That is a good element of this process.
I am not certain at this moment that giving up our regional control to another is the best and wisest possible result. Residents who were in opposition to the horse boarding amendment’s passage were never given a full opportunity to discuss, and debate this matter fully. The ZBA made sure that the vote was a done deal and gave mere lip service to resident questions and concerns. They delivered on their campaign promises and commitments, but residents were left shaking their heads in disbelief and discouraged by the slanted nature of this process.
I feel this matter needs more debate, and I am wondering why other agencies have not been asked to appear in front of the BOT with their presentations and recommendations. However, the question of updating our infrastructure and at what cost gives this matter more urgency. Tabling the issue will become our enemy, as we need to find solutions quickly because our equipment is dated and needs to be seriously upgraded.
Posting information on the website has not proven to have much relevance as has been suggested. A large majority of our residents are completely clueless as to what is happening around their village. Part of this is apathy, and the other is ignorance on the topic. Maybe continued conversation will spark a serious interest in the welfare of our village and cause folks to get involved in their community; whether horse or non-horse. We are a community, let’s not lose sight of our short and long term goals.
Marjorie, good comments. My preference is for outsourcing. Claims of familiarity with the locations of our unique Village just don’t ring true these days with technological capabilities. We will face increasing high costs to keep up with technology trying to go it alone. Scare tactics about loss of safety standards just aren’t true. Any outsource company must keep up with specific standards of performance or the Village will have the right to find an alternative and those exist. Mostly, the redundancy that comes with a larger organization is a far more valuable impact on improved safety than the single threaded reliance on one system or one person with our current set-up.
I fear that those who want to keep the current set-up have a bias toward wanting to control everything which is not always best when others who specialize can manage this more effectively. We lose one or two key people and we are exposed.
That said, the debate has value. You make an excellent point about the difference with horse boarding text amendment. We have a government extreme that is hell bent on supporting a minority special interest. We must have people in office who care for the Village, not the special interests of a few. Mostly, the corrupt practices and unethical approaches must come to a stop if we are to regain our once excellent community reputation.
ONCE YOU GIVE UP CONTROL…. YOU GIVE UP CONTROL FOREVER!
To get it back (it being the Dispatch Center) would be prohibitively expensive once given up. The over reliance on Technology is the Achilles Heel of the system. The human element is critical and simply having cool colored lines on a computerized map does not always get you the help you need.
Go visit a Dispatch Center like SEECOM (Crystal Lake) or RED CENTER (Deerfield), those dispatchers have little or no familiarity with those areas they are dispatching to. All dispatchers dispatch for multiple departments and communities. At times there is confusion if several incidents are happening at the same time, despite having highly skilled dispatchers. Local while possibly a little more expensive gives local control, local familiarity, and local loyalty to the employees and not loyalty to some faceless entity like Seecom, Red Center, Quadcom, Ducom, or the other regional dispatch centers. If there are problems they tend to be less responsive than a local dispatch center.
I have been personally have been in the fire/rescue service for 30 years and dispatched by local and regional centers. Local tended to be better and more accurate. Being both as a line officer and command officer…I must say that local was easier to work with and more adaptable.
Large centers have set protocols that do not allow much deviation or flexibility. And finally large centers have large staffs that need to be paid often increasing their dispatch fees to a point much higher than if it had stayed local. Charging per dispatch call. So the savings that people dream about are often a losery. Ask any of the departments that joined Seecom and they will tell you that they are paying more than they were with their previous dispatch.
All of these people… Dispatchers, Administrators, and other Staff will be entitled to Salaries and Pensions, which future generations of Tax payers will have to fund. The larger the center the more bureaucracy and more non-line staff is hired to manage this bureaucracy, creating a Monster that has to be fed and paid for.