Pepperell Selectmen Vote Unanimously to Join Regional Emergency Dispatch Center

PEPPERELL — April 10, 2017 — Pepperell selectmen voted unanimously Monday to join a new regional 911 dispatch center anchored by Tewksbury and Dracut, citing $358,000 in projected annual savings and a looming state grant deadline. Beverly Woods, executive director of the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, and Deputy Director Jay Donovan told the board the Northern Middlesex Regional Emergency Communications Center would be a 6,500-square-foot state-of-the-art facility built in Tewksbury at a construction cost of $3.65 million, with the state picking up the tab for radio equipment at Pepperell's police and fire stations and in patrol vehicles. Town Administrator Mark Sandoval framed the timing bluntly: "The state gives this money out once a year and that is May 15th." Police Sergeant Gray and Fire Chief Toby Tyler both voiced reservations about the loss of personal dispatcher relationships, with Gray telling the board, "You're taking the personality, the whole personal thing, out of it and putting it in the machine." The board also approved all 19 articles of the May 1 Annual Town Meeting warrant, including MSBA-aided school renovation projects at Boutwell-Burke Elementary and the Squannacook Early Childhood Center, and a $1.8 million artificial turf field at North Middlesex Regional High School funded from $3.18 million in unused borrowing authority from the school's original $89 million construction budget.