A Comparative Analysis Fire, Police, and Public Works Departments Pelham, Massachusetts

In an ongoing effort to evaluate the effectiveness of its operations, the Town of Pelham engaged the services of the Center for Economic Development (CED) at the University of Massachusetts to examine the Highway (DPW), Police and Fire departments. To that end, CED produced a detailed matrix comparing Pelham\u27s three departments with those of three other communities; contacted professional and government organizations for potentially useful trends and researched additional information requested by the town. Herewith are the results of these efforts. It was agreed that a comparative analysis of an extensive list of descriptive characteristics between Pelham\u27s and three other communities\u27 departments would be a useful starting tool. The characteristics are listed on the following page with explanations for numbered items. The categories that emerged for each department are the result of input from the board of selectmen, the department heads and CED. Two towns of similar size, Leverett and Williamsburg and a larger community with full time departments, Belchertown, were chosen by The Board of Selectmen to provide optimum comparisons. Selected characteristics of each town are provided to illustrate similarities and differences