Regional Dispatch Center Likely Moving From Mansfield To Foxboro

FOXBOROUGH, MA — All signs point to a new location for the proposed regional dispatch center and that new spot is in Foxborough.

Foxborough Town Manager Bill Keegan told the town's board of selectmen last week that the report on the new location, the old High Rock AT&T communications center, came back positive, and they are going to be looking to move from the original site - the current Mansfield police station. He told the board that everything will likely be made official June 14.

Late last year, local officials learned that the old High Rock AT&T communications center is available for use as the new regional dispatch center. The dispatch operations for Foxborough, Mansfield, Norton, and Easton were expected to move to Mansfield when their new public safety building opens in 2019, but the Foxborough building could mean an earlier opening for the four-town dispatch center.

Keegan said in November that Mansfield was originally selected because that was the one available facility at the time, but later learned that the former AT&T building could be obtained through a donation from its current owner, American Tower. That possibility is more favorable to state officials and does not require extensive renovation, according to Keegan.

According to a fact sheet distributed at a meeting last year in Mansfield, a new center would allow dispatchers to be able to locate and handle 911 calls from cell phones. Currently, they go through the state police before they are transferred to a local dispatcher.

The site is located right off Route 1 and is next to the Gilbert State Forest. It can be accessed by Route 1 and two abandoned roads that will need some work before they can be used.

The Mansfield Board of Selectmen is scheduled to discuss the dispatch center at their meeting this week.

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