Shores Council Avoids Action on Dispatch Grant

The Grosse Pointe Shores council choose to not take any action Tuesday night on a grant being offered to the five cities to help create an all-Pointes dispatch and lockup center.

The grant, which was applied for by the Grosse Pointe Public Safety Ad Hoc Committee, offers the Grosse Pointes a 50 percent match of up to $300,000 to create one combined dispatch and lockup center for use by all of the departments. It has been awarded to the five cities through the state's Economic Vitality Incentive Program--the state's newest form of revenue sharing.

While the grant has been awarded, in order for the cities to take advantage, each of the Grosse Pointe council's must accept the grant and pass a resolution stating they are willing to participate. It must be accepted within 60 days and about half that time has already expired.

Thus far, the City of Grosse Pointe is the only council to approve its acceptance. The Shores is the second of the five Grosse Pointes to discuss it and the topic is expected to be on the agendas for the other three Grosse Pointes in the coming weeks.

Shores City Manager Brian Vick told council the grant is a good thing but in their particular situation the city has already achieved savings through its own dispatch consolidation with Grosse Pointe Farms. He did say there could be reason to approve it with the idea being that it would be for the good of all the Grosse Pointes.

Councilman Bruce Bisballe, who is the chairman of the finance committee, described the situation as being the least beneficial to the Shores as compared to all of the other Grosse Pointes.

"We have the least to gain and the most to lose," Bisballe said. "I think we should wait and see (what the other council's do)."

Councilman Robert Gesell said he'd like to find out more information about the financial committment behind accepting the grant specific to the Shores before making any decision.

Accepting the grant must be done within 60 days but the cities would have much longer to actually use the money. If it is accepted by all of the Pointes before the deadline, the grant would match 0.50 cents to every $1 contributed by the five Grosse Pointes.

So if the Pointes were to contribute collectively $400,000, they could receive $200,000 from the grant; $600,000 would mean officials could take maximum advantage of the $300,000.

The exact contribution by each Pointe has yet to be determined. The ad hoc committee would likely create a dispatch/lockup authority that would oversee the project and then oversee the operations at the all-in-one location, according to City of Grosse Pointe Manager Pete Dame, who applied for the grant on behalf of the ad hoc committee.

A little more than a year ago, the ad hoc committee studied such a consolidation but found it was not financial feasible for any of the Grosse Pointes. The end result was a recommendation to each of the public safety departments to pursue smaller dispatch consolidations with the ultimate goal of eventually consolidating all of them.

When asked his opinion from council, Shores Public Safety Director John Schulte said there is great operational efficiencies to be gained through such a consolidation. He said he would be in favor of such a project purely from the operational standpoint, acknowledging the financial side of is obviously a consideration.

The Shores anticipates a $500,000 gap in their upcoming fiscal year budget after confirming earlier this week that property values will drop another 12 percent this year--figures which were discussed periodically throughout the meeting as it related to finances.