Next January, the Regional Metacomet Emergency Communications Center (MECC), located on the second floor of Norfolk’s police station, will begin serving the towns of Mendon and Millville, in addition to Norfolk, Wrentham, Franklin, and Plainville.

 

The expanded operations, proposed by the director of the State 911 Department, will be paid for by transition grants and result in significant cost savings for all the towns involved.

 

According to Blythe Robinson, Norfolk’s town administrator, the grants will cover 100% of Norfolk’s portion of MECC operations for the next two fiscal years and then on a sliding scale for FY23 and FY24.

 

“If we’re looking at real budget cuts because of the pandemic, this expansion and these grants will help alleviate some of the fiscal impact,” said Robinson.

 

For Mendon and Millville, the grants will cover some portion of their costs for the next ten years.

 

Robinson says the state is encouraging cities and towns to regionalize dispatch services as a means to improve 911 services as well as save money. The MECC, located on Sharon Avenue in Norfolk, opened last May along with the town’s new police station. The MECC was designed and built with room to add dispatch services for additional towns.

 

All 911 emergency and non-emergency calls in Norfolk, Wrentham, Plainville, and Franklin are received by the MECC. A crew of dispatchers triage the calls and disperse them to a dedicated dispatcher for each situation.

 

The MECC’s operations are under the purview of its Board of Directors, which is comprised of the town administrator from each member town.