Communities exploring dispatching consolidation

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by Andy Schunk and
Dorothy Markulis

Twinsburg Bulletin editor
and reporter

Twinsburg -- Communities in northern Summit County are exploring whether a regional dispatch center would be worthwhile.

Leaders from several communities attended a meeting Sept. 17 at Twinsburg's Government Center to discuss their dispatching services, according to Twinsburg Mayor Katherine Procop.

Among those attending were representatives from Twinsburg, Hudson, Sagamore Hills, Boston Heights, Macedonia, Northfield Village, the Summit County Sheriff's Office (which handles Northfield Center and Twinsburg Township) and the village of Reminderville.

The officials discussed the number of calls each of the interested communities receives annually, the nature of those calls, how the calls are counted in each community, and the specific trends and needs of the separate communities, according to Twinsburg officials.

Procop said the regional dispatch center's location and whether it might be built from the ground up or contained in a renovated dispatch center at Twinsburg Government Center was not known.

She said Twinsburg officials wanted to explore the regional dispatch concept before spending money on upgrades to its safety services' dispatch center on Ravenna Road.

"Before we make a major capital expense toward upgrading our dispatch center, we have invited these communities to discuss ... how we could meld together [for a regional dispatch center," she said.

"And the result was that the chiefs were willing to discuss the idea further."

Hudson Police Chief David Robbins, who attended the meeting with other Hudson officials, including Fire Chief Bob Carter and City Manager Anthony Bales, said discussions are in the preliminary stage.

"In this day and age, in the interest of fiscal responsibility and the move to regionalism, we have to investigate and see if this is a doable enterprise," Robbins said.

Robbins said there are many options to explore.

"We're just looking at this. We have to see if it makes financial sense," Robbins said. "My concern is to see if it's right for us. This is an exploratory type of exercise."

Robbins said the community representatives agreed to attend a second meeting, with a date to be announced by the Twinsburg mayor.

Boston Heights Mayor Bill Goncy attended the meeting with Boston Heights Fire Chief Joseph Varga.

"It was a preliminary meeting to see if there was interest in consolidating dispatch services," Goncy said. "We're always interested in improving what we have, so we thought we should take a look at it."

Goncy said the communities' police and fire chiefs are assessing their departments' dispatching needs in preparation for the next meeting.

"If you never look at a subject, it's never going to change," Goncy said. "We're going to look at it and see if there's a better way to handle dispatch. Our bottom line is to help the people."

Twinsburg already handles safety service dispatching for Reminderville, and Reminderville Police Chief Jeff Buck, who did not attend the Sept. 18 discussion, said he would support "anything that went through Twinsburg."

"We would not want to be anywhere else," Buck said. "We are extremely happy with their dispatching services."

Northfield Center Trustee Paul Buescher said the township is happy with its 420 megahertz radio system and would not be interested in the 800 megahertz countywide system.

"It's too expensive and has no advantage for us," Buescher said. "Grants are available, but the equipment will be outmoded in three to five years. We are going to buy two handheld radios for mutual aid to communicate with other communities, but we are sticking with our system."

Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta said most communities are facing expansion of their dispatch centers.

"I'm in favor of the chiefs of police and fire meeting and discussing the feasibility of doing this through technology, not politics," Kuchta said.

Kuchta said he wanted those familiar with dispatch systems to share information about efficiency, homeland security and FEMA.

"What will it take to handle a certain number of calls per year? How many dispatchers are needed?" Kuchta said. "I want them [police and fire chiefs] to be the designer and [the cities] will be the contractor and make it happen."

Sagamore Hills Police Chief David Hayes did not return phone calls.

Editor's note: Reporter Laura Freeman contributed to this story.

E-mail: dmarkulis@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3163