By James Cummings
Dayton Daily News (Ohio)
Copyright 2007 Dayton Newspapers, Inc.
DAYTON, Ohio — Despite the controversy that preceded most Montgomery County communities agreeing to study combining their emergency dispatch services, things seem to be going fairly smoothly.
Montgomery County is served by 17 emergency dispatch centers, and a federally funded study completed last year concluded that combining all those operations into a single, county-wide communication center would save about $5 million a year while improving dispatch services.
Not every citizen hearing the promise of better service for less money was impressed, however, and local elected officials, particularly those in Kettering, were lobbied not to give up local dispatching. Protesters primarily felt that their hometown dispatchers knew their communities well and that a centralized dispatch center wouldn’t be able to provide the knowledgeable, personalized emergency services citizens feel they’re getting now. There were also concerns that some of the people currently working as dispatchers would lose their jobs.
Most of the officials in communities eligible to participate in the joint dispatch center, including those in Kettering, apparently found the potential upside too good to pass up. Jurisdictions representing more than 80 percent of the county’s population have committed to work this year on details of the proposed center, and only six communities - Centerville, Englewood, Huber Heights, Moraine, Vandalia and West Carrollton - have opted out.
The jurisdictions that are participating have only committed to the planning phase. If they don’t like the plan currently being developed, they have until the end of the year to drop out.
The chief elected officials of the jurisdictions that have opted in all are entitled to a seat on the Emergency Communication Policy Committee, which will oversee the political end of planning the joint center. Miamisburg Mayor Dick Church, the committee’s chairman, said group members are getting along fine right now.
“There are a lot of questions that have to be dealt with, but we think we’ve got a good process in place,” Church said.
The executive director of the Montgomery County Mayors and Managers Association, Michael Ratcliff, did much of the staff work getting the project to the point it is now, and the policy committee hired him Tuesday to manage the day-to-day process of planning the joint center.
Ratcliff will be working about half time on the project while maintaining his mayors and managers post. He’ll be paid by the Montgomery County Commission and will use office space provided by Montgomery County Sheriff David Vore.
Ratcliff’s initial staff will be Lt. Tom McEwen of the Kettering police and Capt. Mike Stewart of the Dayton fire department, and both officials will be paid by their home jurisdictions.
The next major decision will be the proposed location for the new joint dispatch center, and Ratcliff said the policy committee wants to make that selection by May. Several jurisdictions have offered sites, and Ratcliff said local fire, police and administrative officials are working on criteria that will be used to make a selection.
One issue is already agreed upon, Ratcliff said. Wherever the new center is located, all the jurisdictions involved will share in any income tax or other taxes it generates.