By Adam Swift
The New England Police Benevolent Association issued a letter Monday sharing what the organization said are deep concerns by the City of Chelsea’s decision to make three dispatchers the standard staffing model while limiting the fourth dispatch position to planned events and select circumstances.
“This decision affects not only our members, but the safety of every police officer, firefighter, EMS provider, and resident who depends on Chelsea’s emergency communications center,” the NEPBA letter stated.
City Manager Fidel Maltez said his administration continues to put public safety first, and that the change in staffing is the result of hard economic times being faced in Chelsea and beyond.
According to the NEPBA letter, NEPBA Local 192 has consistently raised operational concerns regarding communications staffing.
“During discussions this past spring surrounding the temporary use of part-time dispatchers, the union made its position unmistakably clear: while we supported temporary measures to address staffing shortages, we did not support eliminating the fourth dispatch position,” the NEPBA stated. “In fact, the union specifically clarified that its proposal was never intended to reduce operational staffing or replace full-time coverage. The fourth dispatcher remained an operational necessity, particularly during the City’s busiest months and periods of increased workload.”
Maltez said the city is facing a difficult financial time, as are many neighboring communities.
“We have to make some difficult financial decisions in order to keep the worst from coming to us,” said Maltez. “We went through a really hard time on the school side in regards to significant cuts. What we are trying to do is we are trying to adjust to this new reality.”
Maltez said the city is not cutting any positions and is not laying anyone off.
“We are doing our best to be fiscally responsible while prioritizing public safety,” he added.
The NEPBA wrote that while the city has stated it will staff a fourth dispatcher during planned events, significant weather, or other pre-scheduled circumstances, the incidents that place the greatest demands on emergency communications are rarely planned.
“House fires, shootings, serious motor vehicle crashes, violent incidents, and other critical emergencies occur without warning,” the NEPBA letter stated. “By the time someone can be called in, the workload has already peaked and dispatchers are left managing extraordinary circumstances with minimum staffing.”
Minimum staffing exists to define the lowest acceptable level of coverage, not the level at which a busy urban communications center should routinely operate, the letter continued.
“The ability of dispatchers to perform under extraordinary pressure is a testament to their professionalism,” the NEBPA stated. “It is not evidence that the staffing model is sufficient.”
Throughout discussions with the city, the NEBPA stated that the union has not taken an unreasonable position.
“Local 192 acknowledged the City’s fiscal constraints and repeatedly proposed practical alternatives, including utilizing the fourth dispatch position during the busiest daytime and evening shifts rather than staffing it continuously,” it stated. “The union sought a balanced solution that recognized both budget realities and operational safety.”
Instead, the NEBPA claimed that management has informed the union that it reviewed staffing levels and call volume but has declined to provide the underlying data supporting its decision.
“After previously indicating that the City’s busiest and least busy periods had been analyzed, management has refused to produce the call-volume statistics, staffing analysis, or workload assessments used to conclude that a fourth dispatcher is unnecessary outside of planned events,” it stated.
The NEPBA called upon the city to immediately release the operational data supporting its staffing decision, engage in a transparent review of communications workload, and restore the fourth dispatch position during the city’s highest call-volume periods.
The city manager noted that the city may need to continue to make some hard financial decisions, especially if there is limited growth and construction in Chelsea.
“It is a hard adjustment for our team, it is a hard adjustment for our city – we are not backfilling a lot of positions that are empty – it is the new fiscal reality we find ourselves in,” said Maltez. “Our priority is public safety; our priority is ensuring that our police department, our fire department, and everyone that is in public safety is responding appropriately. But at the same time, I will say that we are very excited about the regional (911 communications center) in Revere.”
The city recently signed onto join the regional dispatch center with Revere and Winthrop which is building a new operations headquarters at the former McKinley School in Revere.
“If we have more dispatchers in the room, then we have a bigger pool of people in the room who can jump in in times of crisis,” said Maltez.
The regional emergency communications center will allow Chelsea to share resources with the other communities, he said.
The NEPBA stated that Chelsea’s dispatchers have never asked for less work. “They have never refused to answer the next call for help,” its letter stated. ”Time and again, they have risen to meet every challenge placed before them. But public safety cannot depend on dispatchers continually doing more with less. “The citizens of Chelsea deserve an emergency communications center staffed according to