BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG — As of Jan. 1, Ogdensburg Police Department will no longer have dispatchers.

Ogdensburg Police Chief Mark Kearns said dispatch will be handled in a limited fashion by officers until an agreement can be reached with St. Lawrence County.

“The city and county are still working on the terms. Until an agreement is met, OPD officers will cover the desk operations,” Kearns said.

Fortunately both of the city’s remaining dispatchers have found other employment opportunities, but their departure is expected to put additional stress on the city’s already understaffed police force.

The department has been working short-staffed with forced overtime becoming the new normal. The recent cuts to the department have led the city to eliminate its investigative units and has led to the departure of officers who were uncertain about the future of their positions at the department.

The city has been working to move dispatching duties to the county as far back as 2019 following the recommendation to do so from the state comptroller’s office.

But the county and the city have failed to reach a deal.

In September the city told the county that it planned to completely transfer services by Dec. 26, but the county has not agreed to take them over.

Currently calls to the police department are answered with a message from the City Clerk asking anyone with an emergency to call 911. Those with non-emergencies are asked to stay on the line.

The county has been assisting with dispatch services for some time, but in September, St. Lawrence County Emergency Services Director Matt Denner said the county wasn’t in a position to handle the night dispatching services.

“I have concerns in doing this with the current call volume we currently have and adding Ogdensburg PD’s to that would be too much for one dispatcher to handle during that time frame. We are currently in process of a capital remodel of our Public Safety Building to be able to add two more dispatch desks to give us six with room for eight, With the proper staffing I feel this could be accomplished safely,” Denner told the city in a letter in September.

St. Lawrence County Attorney Stephen Button told the city in plain terms that the county was not ready for the transfer at that time.

“Please accept this letter as formal notification that St. Lawrence County will not be assuming the City of Ogdensburg's S-PSAP responsibilities absent a mutual agreement and, as such, the City remains obligated under the law to continue to provide that service given the City's longstanding occupancy of that field,” he said.

However, the city still moved forward with cutting its police dispatch jobs when preparing the budget for 2023 and both of the remaining dispatchers will be out of the office permanently after the New Year.

Interim City Manager Andrea Smith was not immediately available for comment regarding the dispatch situation.