Bloomingdale merges 911 dispatch with Addison, despite some opposition

The Bloomingdale Village Board voted Monday to merge the village’s 911 dispatch with Addison, despite some residents’ continued opposition.

The move will save Bloomingdale $231,000 annually as it faces a tight budget and put one extra patrol officer on the street, but six dispatch employees will also lose their jobs.

This is one reason about 85 residents spoke out last month about the arrangement at a town-hall meeting, saying they also worried Addison dispatchers won’t be familiar with Bloomingdale’s geography.

“I am still passionately opposed to this move, as are most of us here,” said Lucy Michalec, who sits on the Bloomingdale Police Department Senior Advisory Board. “I don’t think the board is listening to their residents.

The vote to approve the measure was not unanimous, with Trustees Robert Czernek and Michael Hovde voting against it. Village President Bob Iden had to add his vote in favor, since only three other trustees were present and four “yes” votes were needed for the measure to pass.

“This was not a quick decision,” Iden said. “(But) I knew this was something that the community long term, not short term, would benefit from. I want this to work for all of us citizens.”

But Czernek called the measure “hard to swallow.”

“I just think it’s a sad, sad time for Bloomingdale to lose its personal touch with the residents,” he said.

Like many other towns, Bloomingdale is grappling with a budget crunch due to falling sales taxes and flat property tax revenues, as well as late payments from the state. Consolidating its dispatch is among several other recent cost-cutting moves, including canceling festivals, offering early retirement packages and leaving open positions vacant.

While six employees will lose their jobs with Bloomingdale, police Chief Frank Giammarese said four staff members and one supervisor have also started the interview process for a new job with Addison, while one employee rejected the idea of working there.

The new dispatch agreement will have dispatchers at the Addison Police Department handseling all emergency police calls for itself, Bloomingdale and Bensenville. Bloomingdale police will continue to answer its own nonemergency calls and Giammarese said he advocates for the department to remain open for 24 hours per day, manned by an assistant.

Delores Temes, supervisor at Addison’s dispatch center, said Bloomingdale residents are already operating on a consolidated system under the Bloomingdale Fire Protection District, which shares services with Itasca and Elk Grove Township. In addition, she said, all 911 calls made from cellphones in Bloomingdale are currently routed through the DuPage County Sheriff’s Department.

Bloomingdale now joins several other towns either enacting or considering consolidation. In July 2009, Roselle opted to consolidate its 911 services with DU-COMM for a savings of $250,000 a year, affecting a staff of eight telecommunicators. Itasca also considered consolidating with DU-COMM to save $120,00 a year, as well as consolidating with Addison for a $245,000 annual savings, in early 2010. But village officials were met with more than two hours of resident protests and no changes were made.