Combined emergency dispatch center is to be administered by new commission
* Ambulance district seeks greater input, hopes for more intensive dispatch services.
By Ralph Pokorny
Nevada Daily Mail
The new county jail provides a unique situation that will allow the Vernon County Sheriff's Office and the Nevada Police Department to combine their dispatch centers and save some money at the same time, Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Bonnie McCord indicated Tuesday night, during a joint Nevada City Council-Vernon County Commission work session.
"It's very expensive to operate," McCord said.
She said that these entities currently support separate dispatch centers; and, in the current economic climate, this will provide a way to combine them and save money. The NPD and the VCSO are already using the same software.
"This gives the police and sheriff the opportunity to share information to help solve crimes," she said.
Bill McCaffree, Nevada city attorney, said that the county and the city are going out of the dispatch business and a new board needs to be formed to operate the combined dispatch center.
McCaffree said that they are initially proposing to call the board the Western Missouri 911 Commission and to form it under RSMo Ch. 70.
He said that the commission would be formed as a separate government entity that would hire a director to run the dispatch center independently of any of the member entities.
McCaffree said that a draft copy of the proposed agreement setting up the commission that was distributed to the city, county and ambulance district officials at the meeting, who will set up the board.
"This board will operate and pay for the facility," McCaffree said.
The board also will be able to issue bonds and pay for a building or a facility, he said.
In response to a question from the ambulance district, McCaffree said that the original member agencies of the board will have two voting members on the board and any entity that joins later will only have one vote.
He said that this board will not be involved in any other government agency. It will have one job -- receive emergency calls and get that information to the appropriate agency.
McCaffree said that this would be a government non-profit organization.
"The idea is to try and provide this service at cost for the members," he said.
"What's so beautiful about this entity, is that its purpose is so limited there is no way they can step on any toes. Their purpose is to just provide good service," McCaffree said.
Vernon County Northern Commissioner Neal Gerster said that the intention is for the county to cover the cost for dispatch service for the county's volunteer fire departments.
He said that only those agencies that are tax supported will be required to pay for the service.
The proposed combined dispatch center will have two dispatchers on duty and, when fully operational, will provide the same level of dispatch that Nevada has, with E-911 for landline telephone.
It will not include cell phones at this time. That will be added in the future.
"Our best guess is that it will cost about $518,000 per year. That's pretty much what the city and county are now paying for dispatching," Gary Herstein, Nevada public safety director, said in response to a question from Vernon County Ambulance District board chairman Mark Humphrey.
"We don't know if that's enough money, but we think it is," Herstein said, adding that there still some variables, such the cost of insurance.
Herstein said that they estimate that it will cost the Vernon County Ambulance District between $20,000 and $30,000 per year if they want to be a member of the dispatch center, which would amount to about 5 to 7 percent of the operating cost of the center.
Humphrey said that they need more concrete figures than that to base their budget on.
Herstein said that it would cost about another $100,000 per year to add medical dispatch service, because it would require having a third dispatcher on duty at all times.
The average salary of the dispatchers at the center would be about $26,000.
Harlan Moore, city manager, said that is about what Joplin pays for dispatchers and if they do not pay that much they have trouble keeping dispatchers after they are trained.
With medical dispatch, once a call is received by a dispatcher, that dispatcher must stay in communication with the calling party until the issue is resolved. This will require a third dispatcher to be present, so there will always be two dispatchers available to answer other calls.
Part of the reason for the joint meeting is that the Nevada City Council will be considering the bill during their April 7 meeting that will approve the intergovernmental agreement establishing the dispatch center governing board.
Humphrey said that the ambulance district would not be able to hold a special meeting before the April 7 council meeting but would be able to meet before April 21.
Although it was suggested that the council could postpone consideration of the measure until the April 21 meeting the Nevada City Council members decided to go ahead and hold the first reading of the measure during the April 7 meeting and then make any needed changes before the April 21 meeting and have a first reading of the amended ordinance.
"I wish we had been brought in on the ground floor," Humphrey said.