911 gets fix

The Saratoga Town Council met briefly for its first scheduled meeting of the month of October, then spent nearly one-and-a-half hours in executive session before adjourning.

During the public portion of the meeting, council members approved a fix to the town’s new 9-1-1 telephone system and held the second reading of a so-called Planned Unit Development (PUD) ordinance that would change the way the town can approve development projects in town.

The council heard an update from Saratoga Police Department Chief Robert Bifano about the issues surrounding the deployment of the town’s new 9-1-1 phone system.

Last month, Bifano told council members police there were difficulties transferring calls from the 9-1-1 lines to the non-emergency lines. That problem, Bifano said was due to the fact that the 9-1-1 system is digital but the other phone systems at the town hall/police department building were analog.

Two 9-1-1 lines come into the digital 9-1-1 system and the department has four other lines which come in through the analog system.

Bifano proposed moving two non-emergency dispatch numbers, 326-8316 and 326-8317 from the analog system to the 9-1-1 system. Two more analog lines used by the police department would be left on the analog system.

The two remaining analog lines would be used by officers for desk phones, Bifano said.

Union Telephone estimated the cost of switching two analog lines to the 9-1-1 system at around $100, Bifano said.

The council voted to approve the expenditure and have the phone lines moved over to the 9-1-1 system.

After hearing routine reports from town departments, the council then held a second reading of the proposed PUD ordinance.

The ordinance, if passed, would allow town planners more flexibility in approving projects outside the constraints of the town’s existing zoning schema.

Mayor Ed Glode read the proposed ordinance for the second time. There were no concerns about the ordinance voiced by council members or members of the public in attendance.

Council members then adjourned into executive session. Under state law, councils can enter executive session to discuss private personnel issues, litigation or other issues where a public record of the session may be harmful to the town’s interests.

Members of the public and media are not permitted to overhear executive sessions.

Council members and Bifano entered the executive session. After about 30 minutes, Bifano left the session. The council continued to meet for an hour.

At the conclusion of the executive session, Glode announced that no action would be taken as a result of the executive session, and members voted to seal the minutes.

The third and final reading of the proposed PUD ordinance will be held during the town council’s next scheduled meeting, 6 p.m. Oct. 17 at Saratoga Town Hall.