“That allows us to onboard the City of Springfield dispatchers as Clark County dispatchers and employ a few more people as Clark County employees and we will welcome them with open arms and get them up to speed so we can all work together,” Commission President Melanie Flax Wilt said.
Because of dispatching issues that can cause city 9-1-1 calls to be transferred to the county, and vice versa, the City of Springfield and Clark County have discussed a combined dispatch center for years, with some talks dating back to the ’90s.
But in 2016, when the county again approached the city with more solid plans about combining dispatch centers talks broke down. So in 2017, the county decided to move forward with building the dispatch center on their own.
That $5 million facility is currently being built on Home Road in the former Clark County Department of Job and Family Services Children’s Home. The current 3,800-square-foot facility will be repurposed as an office and training facility while a 3,300-square-foot addition will house the 9-1-1 dispatch operations.
Renovations and construction on the 9-1-1 center are slated to be completed this month, however, operations at the center will likely not begin until a couple of months into 2021 due to the length of time it will take to install the new equipment.
The center will house dispatch services for all Clark County township emergency management personnel excluding Greep Twp. and for now — Springfield.
Talks between the county and city picked up again — but broke down in November of 2019 because the county’s offer to combine would have dropped some city dispatcher’s pay, among other things, Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck told the Springfield News-Sun at the time.
But talks about combining are on again, and now just need one final round of votes from the city and the county.
Commissioners with the City of Springfield conducted a first reading of a ordinance last week that will allow for the city manager to enter into a 10-year contract for communication and dispatch services with the county.
The proposed contract states that the cost of those services provided by the county will not exceed $1,149,320 for the initial contract year.
Heck told city commissioners during their public meeting last week that the estimated savings for Springfield in terms of dispatch services would be approximately $733,000 a year. He said that is if they go forward with the agreement with the county.
In terms of how city dispatchers would be treated under the new agreement, Heck said that there have been negotiations to make sure those employees would be treated fairly and that it is as “equal as we are going to be.”
Flax Wilt echoed that, saying “everything,” that both sides wanted in the agreement, they got.
In regards to discussions over the years pertaining to combined dispatch services, city commissioner Dave Estrop said “this time I think we are here. Let’s get it across the goal line.”
Fellow commissioner Kevin O’Neill said during the same meeting last week that “we are probably as close today as we have ever been,” in terms of reaching an agreement with the county over dispatch services.
If the city approves the resolution on Nov. 24, it will move back to the county commissioners for their final approval the next day.
According to the MOU approved by the county, the dispatchers will onboard on Jan. 1, 2021 and both city and county dispatchers will cross-train separately for a couple of months before moving into the new center together.
$5 million: Cost of the new combined 9-1-1 Dispatch Center being built by Clark County
$733,000: Estimated savings per year in terms of dispatch services for the City of Springfield if dispatching services are combined with Clark County
Jan. 2021: When city dispatchers will onboard with the county if the city and county vote to agree on combining
