911 DISPATCH CONSOLIDATION

The extent to which public safety will be impacted by consolidation depends substantially on the quality of the consolidation, and the extent to which potential problems are effectively handled. A poorly planned consolidation could outweigh any public safety benefits. Many of the fire agencies say they have grown to accept the level of service they get from their consolidated dispatch operation as quoted in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Consolidation Study: “I have given up and have settled for a lower level of service.”

The City of Dayton should follow the examples the City of Kettering set to get questions answered. A few that come to mind are as follows.

• What is the limit after year 3 of how much the cost of dispatching will go up? There   is a limit of 3% per year for the first 3 years. What happens in year 4?
• Does this money saving that MCSO offers include the cost of the new building, new equipment, maintenance contracts, ect?
• If the C.O.D. has to make up the cost for the remainder of the jurisdictions that do not enter into the letter of interest, how will this save us money?
• How will funding contributions to include “seed” money be defined and assessed?
• What fiscal controls and financial management system will be used?
• If the C.O.D. has established a level of care with EMT’s answering the telephones, will the MCSO do the same? Once you have established a level of care can you go backwards?
• Who will assume responsibility to train field users?
• How will continuity of service be maintained?
• Which local agencies, if any, will remain open for walk-in-traffic?
• What changes will be required in non-emergency and/or administrative call-handling procedures?
• Who will assume responsibility for any public information activities and what role will a consolidated dispatch facility play in public information dissemination?
• Where and how will back-up dispatch operations be provided? Systems failure, mass casualty incident, ect?

The “no cost” option of being dispatched by the County Sheriff’s Office is, first of all, not truly free. There are costs that each of the communities would bear to make the transition to the county system. Secondly, the cities would essentially “pay” in level of capabilities because they would be required to migrate backward in both technology and level of service. The citizens of Dayton will have to live with the decision the City Commission makes. Why is the City Commission not including Dayton citizens in the process?                                                     

Ken Sulfridge
President AFSCME Local 101