The City of Utica entered into discussions with The South East Regional Emergency Services Authority (SERESA) to determine whether the City of Utica could benefit from financial savings by joining SERESA and discontinuing the operations of the City of Utica's 24/7 dispatch operation.
Barriers to Collaboration:
Shared Police and Fire Dispatch discussions with SERESA ( South East Regional Emergency Services Authority) led to an understanding that immediate progress towards an agreement and change of service would not happen. Discussions were dropped and will not resume unless and until SERESA amends or changes its financial forecast for participation by the City of Utica. The designated fee to join the consortium and suspend dispatch in our current dispatch center would be too costly to the City of Utica at this time. Secondary questions raised pertaining to part time on-call Firefighters/paramedics was also an issue as to SERESA’s ability to handle that kind of response both for fire/rescue and EMS.