Estimated dispatch costs
$76,000 — Mad River Twp.
$18,000 — Green Twp.
$44,300 — Bethel Twp.
$27,300 — German Twp.
$12,400 — Harmony Twp.
$8,800 — Madison Twp.
$43,200 — Moorefield Twp.
$14,600 — Pike Twp.
$11,200 — Pleasant Twp.
$42,500 — Springfield Twp.
Mad River Twp. officials are discussing plans to renovate the fire station in Enon and move its emergency dispatchers out of their homes and into a centralized location.
But those plans came as a surprise to Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly and county commissioners who have been working with the city of Springfield to establish a countywide dispatch center and include Mad River and Green twps.
Fire Chief of Emergency Services Tracy Young said Mad River Twp. trustees have set aside $40,000 for the renovation project. That would be phase one of a three-stage process to upgrade the township’s dispatch equipment and eventually hire new dispatchers.
The township wants to get a computer-aided dispatch system, new computers, modern radio equipment and software, and a monitor with GIS mapping.
“We’ll have all the tell-tale functions as most dispatch centers do around the area. It’s just a matter of upgrading and modernizing,” Young said.
The renovation project and other proposed changes come in anticipation of statewide 9-1-1 technology and operational regulations that all emergency dispatch centers will be required to follow.
The city of Springfield dispatches for New Carlisle and the county dispatches for eight of the 10 townships, except for Green and Mad River Twps.
County leaders had hoped Green and Mad River twps. would eventually join the county or countywide dispatch system.
County Commissioners John Detrick and Rick Lohnes were critical of Green and Mad River this week during a meeting in which they approved dispatching contracts for Bethel, German, Harmony, Madison, Moorefield, Pike, Pleasant and Springfield Twps.
German Twp. had paid $54,000 and Pike Twp. $60,000 a year to run their own dispatching services when they first signed a contract with the county in 2014.
German Twp.’s current contract with the county is about $27,000 and Pike Twp.’s about $14,600.
“I wish that Mad River and Green would be more cognizant of saving money and lives by being more efficient in their dispatching,” Detrick said.
Lohnes and Kelly also said people calling 9-1-1 in Mad River and Green using cell phones would be better served if they could call one center instead of having their call handled first by the county and then transferred to dispatcher in the township.
“There’s so many advantages to consolidating these services, the first of which is better service,” Sheriff Kelly said. “But then there are new laws coming and new requirements for training. There’s some current concern if we can even transfer calls to them if they come in wireless.”
Kelly wants to sit down and discuss 9-1-1 dispatching with Mad River and Green Twps. The county contends the townships would save money by joining the county.
“My whole goal is to provide services and do it in the most cost efficient way and at the highest level,” Kelly said.
Mad River Twp. Trustee Kathy Estep said they had preliminary discussions about the project Thursday evening but no final decisions have been made.
Young, however, said he advised trustees in 2013 when he took over that changes will be needed before the new 9-1-1 regulations take effect.
Mad River spends about $76,000 on dispatching and currently has five dispatchers, including one who works part-time. Mad River and Green share the cost of their dispatch services in a 70/30 split, with Mad River taking on the most of the costs.
There are more benefits to maintaining a local dispatching service for fire and EMS, Young said, than joining the county system.
“Our dispatchers have been around a long time. They know the area, they know the people … That intellectual capital is huge. It’s hard to replace that. It’s hard to outsource that to Clark County who rely on their mapping systems that are not as accurate as they would like them to be,” Young said.
The township will incur more costs with the upgrades, he said, but expects to save money in the long run and better serve township residents.
Large dispatch centers such as Clark County provide great service 80 percent of the time for townships, Young said, but can struggle with 20 percent of the calls.
The townships have a Safe and Sound program in which local dispatchers check on the elderly and people with disabilities, which he said could be lost if combined with Clark County.
“That’s a service we feel is a local home-grown service that’s taking care of our community,” Young said.
Some of the dispatchers have worked for the township for at least 20 years, Estep said, and the Safe and Sound program has allowed some older residents to stay in their homes longer.
“That’s one of the reasons, just one, that we have wanted to maintain our dispatch,” Estep said. “We feel that we get good service from our dispatchers. They know the area. Even though it may be more costly than going with the county for dispatching, we think that the benefits outweigh the increased costs.”
Mad River Twp. Trustee Bob McClure said local leaders have talked about updating the system before, but Thursday was the first time Mad River and Green township officials held a joint meeting on the issue.
They have been approached by the county about joining that system, but he said currently the pluses of maintaining local dispatchers outweigh the minuses.
“I wouldn’t say it’s all about dollars and cents … But at this point we have felt that for the money that it takes to run our services and the services we provide for our residents we fell it is affordable and justifiable at this time,” McClure said.
Green Twp. Trustee Allen Armstrong said trustees are considering multiple options. Armstrong would still look at the costs to join to county to see if there’s a savings.
“I firmly believe you always have to look for the best solution. As technology changes and there are more (options) available to us … to deliver our dispatching as efficiently as we can, I’m all for looking into all of them,” Armstrong said.
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