GREENFIELD — After years of working in what has been described as a “closet” of a room, the city’s dispatchers are in line for a more modern, expanded space that fulfills their professional needs.

In the meantime, dispatchers have relocated to a new office at the Police Station on High Street with a bit more elbow room and windows to the outside world. However, the room is still a bit tight on space for equipment and managing noise, according to Communications Center Supervisor Cindy Hunter.

“It’s a Band-Aid,” said Hunter, speaking of the former roll call room that dispatchers moved into last month as officials move forward on plans for the expansion of the dispatch center. “But we’re making it work.”

Last year, City Council authorized borrowing up to $904,000 for upgrades to the High Street station that includes an expansion of the dispatch center; addressing water infiltration issues to prevent further water and mold damage; locker room improvements that include creating gender-neutral changing and shower/toilet rooms; and construction of a new sally port to address safety issues and a lack of storage in the building.

“It has never been very humane as far as a work environment goes,” Police Lt. Todd Dodge said of the now vacant dispatch office. The chief complaint from those who worked in the space, a narrow room situated behind the lobby, is that it’s “like sitting in a closet,” he said.

The expansion will involve knocking down the wall that currently separates the dispatch office and the lobby, effectively doubling the floor space, according to Dodge. Additionally, the project will include new flooring, improved sound insulation and a new light system for inter-office communication.

“They’ll have brand new, ergonomic, cutting-edge dispatch stations,” Dodge said. “They’re both aesthetically pleasing but also ergonomically correct for what they’re doing.”

At the very least, he said, “it will bring us up to the 21st century.”

While the office underwent minor “cosmetic” improvements around 2007, Dodge said the changes didn’t address the cramped nature of the space.

The enhancement of the physical space follows years of city leaders, including Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. and various city councilors, working to boost the perception of dispatchers and improve their benefits packages. Hunter said the benefits offered to Greenfield dispatchers are finally “comparable” to other local dispatch agencies.

“We’re going to continue to climb, and if we can continue to enhance their benefits package to meet modern standards, the next step is to create a physical environment that meets the standards,” Dodge explained. “That’s what’s happening now.”

It’s been a “slower evolution than you’d like,” Dodge said. Historically, he noted, Greenfield officers did their own dispatching before it transitioned into a civilian role, freeing up police and fire personnel to be in the field, and Greenfield’s dispatch grew to include not just police, but fire. They are now a unionized group within the city.

“We just want to be seen on the same level as our firefighter and police peers,” Hunter said, adding that dispatchers are considered to be more of an administrative or secretarial role, even at the state level.

Greenfield’s dispatch center employs nine dispatchers, 10 including Hunter, and two per diems. Two dispatchers work each shift, she explained. The new space, however, will accommodate a third dispatcher if future budgeting allows, something she and Dodge plan to continue advocating for.

Speaking during a recent Public Safety Commission meeting, Ed Jarvis, a former deputy fire chief, said it was “about time” the dispatchers were given a better space.

Nine years ago, “I retired and they were talking about moving you guys, and putting you in a different room,” he said. “It’s about time you got out of that sardine can they had you living in.”

Dodge said the architecture firm, Pacheco Ross Architects, anticipates the expansion project will be ready go out to bid by mid-August, which could mean breaking ground by September or October. If all goes according to plan, he said dispatchers will be able to move into their renovated space by next summer.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.

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