Roselle 911 calls will go to DuComm; eight lose jobs

Roselle is joining DuComm, or DuPage Public Safety Communications, and will switch all its 911 calls and emergency dispatches from village operations to the regional service.

The village board unanimously approved the change this week.

Officials say the move will save roughly $250,000 annually and improve service for Roselle, but also will require laying off eight union telecommunicators.

"For seven months we've been reviewing (this change) with the village board, since they want to make sure their residents are getting equal if not better services," Village Administrator Jeff O'Dell said. "We found in going through our analysis that we will actually be increasing our level of service."

According to police officials, improvements under DuComm will include addition of emergency medical dispatch services, a detailed system where the telecommunicator provides first aid instruction to the caller and stays on the line until an ambulance arrives.

The transition will require several months, police said, with a target of Jan. 1, 2010.

"Police and fire personnel are working closely with DuComm to make sure the transition is smooth, that residents are not impacted and that the public doesn't notice a thing," O'Dell said.

The change will create several new jobs at Glendale Heights-based DuComm due to increased workloads. New jobs also will open in Roselle because officials said they hope to keep the police building staffed 24/7 for public safety.

O'Dell said the board is still unsure how many Roselle jobs will be created - though it will be less than eight - and which posts will be full- or part-time. Employees who lost their jobs in the DuComm switch will be eligible to apply for new positions with both organizations.

"Part of our discussion with DuComm was to see if our employees could apply for jobs there," he said. "They have a stringent hiring process and they have assured us anyone from our operations can go over there and test.

"The new village jobs will be a different type than what they are doing now, so we would look at their applications just like someone from the outside was applying."

The $250,000 in annual savings expected from the switch will help Roselle make up revenue lost in other areas due to the sluggish national economy. Officials said the village has seen a drop in sales tax and state-shared income tax revenues.

To help offset the shortfalls, the village recently took other cost-cutting measures, including laying off one employee while reorganizing the community development and finance departments; not filling an open police sergeant position; and downsizing the building inspector post to part-time after the full-time inspector retired in June.