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Darke County Commissioners
Perspective:
Dispatch/9-1-1 Emergency Services
In the last few months, there has been a tremendous amount of
misleading information concerning the proposal and the operation of the
dispatch/9-1-1 emergency service that was discussed between the County
and the City. During this time, there have been many opinions formed
based upon half information, tidbits of fact, and emotions that has led
to tension between those involved. Some of the information that was
shared was incorrect and in some cases was not corrected. In an effort
to present what transpired, the County Commissioners, respectfully
submit the following information to clear the air. We will
discuss three major areas; who initiated this last round of
discussions; what this means to the citizens of the city and Darke
County; and what the tax levy proposed actually
involves.
The joining of services has been an ongoing conversation between the
city council and the commissioners off and on for many years.
Whenever the county has been approached on this topic, it has been by
individuals from the city. The latest discussion came about when the
commission board passed a resolution to recommend our representative on
the 9-1-1 committee to go down to one public safety answering point
(PSAP); and included within the resolution was an offer to provide free
dispatching to the City of Greenville as provided to the other forty
plus agencies throughout the county. At that point, it was up to the
City at their discretion whether to consider the offer. The obvious
reason for the City to want to combine services has, and will continue
to be, safety and cost savings to the citizens. The county has always
thought it made sense due to the savings of time and tax dollars. For
whatever reason, these discussions have never been able to yield an
agreement. The Commissioners were asked to provide an offer in
good faith, which we did, and at no time did we ever threaten, coerce,
or try to force the city into joining. The offer was always in their
court to consider or enter into with the county; and if they wanted to
reach a deal that was fine, if not that is all right too!
With recent decisions made by the City Council, this means the City
will maintain their dispatch services for fire and police, and the
county will continue dispatching for all other entities in the
County. What changes will occur for the citizens of
Greenville? Now that the County has only one PSAP (Public Safety
Answering Point), as a citizen, you will not see any change in service.
When implemented all calls will go through the county dispatch (both
cell and landlines) to dispatch respectively or transferred to the City
dispatch for fire and police within the city limits. During this
process, one fact that wasn’t well known was the City’s PSAP was the
property of the County; even now if the City chooses to purchase their
own PSAP equipment, all calls will route through the county as
previously stated. The reason for the County 9-1-1 Committee
(consisting of the Mayor of the largest city (Greenville), the Chairman
of the largest Township (Greenville Twp.), and the Chairman of the
County Commissioners) decided on one PSAP is simple; in 2012, Ohio’s
Emergency Services Internet Protocol Network (ESInet) started preparing
for the States Next Generation 911 system. Within this preparation
process, the State wanted to eliminate unnecessary PSAP’S to save
taxpayer money and redundancy. With that in mind, Darke County has no
need for two PSAP’S, and since this was an extra County expense, the
choice was decided to only operate and maintain one PSAP thus
eliminating the need to house one in the City of Greenville.
The levy the County Commissioners are putting on the ballot for
November of this year came recommended by the Communication Commission
board. The board consists of members of the fire departments,
police departments, the Sheriff’s office, Darke County EMA, Rescue
squad services, members of the community including a mayor’s
representative, Commissioners, and 3 representatives from the City of
Greenville (Fire, Police, and the city safety service director, who all
voted to recommend this levy be put on the ballot). These
services, responders, and citizens saw the need for upgrading to the
MARCS system, and upgrade all aspects of our communication systems for
these vital services. Our emergency responder’s safety and the
safety of our citizens is our first priority. Their safety and
ours will be improved with the enhanced ability to communicate freely
between departments in emergencies. Communication across County
and State lines is vital as we border other counties and Indiana who
have already gone to this new system, or are in the process. Our
VHF system is reaching the end of its useful life, and we had the
choice of spending millions of dollars to fix this old system; which
would mean we could not communicate with other counties and Indiana, or
do a complete switch to MARCS and have the ability to work with
adjoining services. We chose the latter. The .45 mill levy will
generate $572,350 dollars a year. That will allow us to do the upgrades
needed now, and to set money aside in this fund for future upgrades,
continuing license and maintenance fees, and future replacement of this
system. If passed in November, this levy would go into a separate fund
that would only allow for use in communication equipment, services, and
fees. If approved, the levy would never exceed $572,350 unless upgrades
are made to your property. Therefore, if you have not made changes to
your home, your tax portion for this levy will stay the same. We feel
this levy should be enough to do all we need. Our emergency
services need the assurance the levy we are requesting for
communication services and equipment will support them as they do their
important jobs.
THE DARKE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
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