BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – St. Lawrence County will provide full dispatch service for the Ogdensburg Police Department from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. after the city signed off on an inter municipal agreement Monday.

The agreement is expected to save the city roughly $170,000 in the first year as the city recently cut the two remaining dispatchers at the department.

City police officers have been providing the service since Jan. 1, but since the department is short staffed overtime was needed and was a costly un-budgeted expense.

The agreement was nearly tabled after Councilor John Rishe raised concerns over the agreement.

He accused the county of treating Ogdensburg differently than other communities.

The agreement signed between the county and city is nearly identical to the dispatch contract signed with the Village of Canton.

Rishe however claimed that dispatch service was provided to the towns without an agreement and he said he did not believe one was necessary.

In fact most towns do not have a police department, so such an agreement would not exist as they rely on the sheriff’s department and state police for law enforcement.

Rishe said that he felt the agreement added to city expenses and only provided emergency dispatch.

Police Chief Mark Kearns clarified that the county would provide full secondary dispatch services from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., but would provide only emergency dispatch service if the agreement wasn’t signed.

Deputy Mayor Steve Fisher also had concerns about the agreement. He accused the county of stalling on the matter for the past three years.

The county has maintained that it does not have the staffing necessary to provide the service 24-7 yet, but is working toward that goal.

“We’ve also sent people to the moon and they were able to broadcast back and that was a lot quicker than what we are doing,” Fisher said.

The city had attorneys review the agreement and although the opinion was not shared publicly, Interim City Manager Andrea Smith explained that the attorneys felt the agreement was unnecessary, but that it would be in the best interest of the city to move forward with it at this time.

Smith noted that the city would have no non-emergency coverage of dispatch at night if the agreement wasn’t signed.

Rishe’s attempt to table the agreement failed 3-4 with councilors Nichole Kennedy, Mike Powers, Dan Skamperle and Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly voting it down.

The same four voted in favor of the agreement which passed by 4-3.

It’s unclear when the services will start at this time.