Richardson County, Falls City take up sides over single Next Generation 911 center

FALLS CITY – The future of 911 dispatching in Richardson County is still unclear.

Currently, the city and county operate separate dispatching systems that need equipment upgrades expected to cost over $1.5 million each.

The county has proposed the establishment of a single dispatch center over the past year, but City Administrator Gary Jorn said more details need to be understood. He suggested the formation of a new committee of city and county representatives.

Jorn: “You guy’s proposal back to us, you’re saying it’s money driven and money should be left alone. We should discuss that after we figure out how we make this transition and what this transition is going to look like and what is this entity going to be like … we should be discussing that instead of dollars and cents.”

Police Chief Duane Armbruster, who announced his July 7 retirement at Monday’s city council meeting, said the city and county have different needs for dispatching.

He said the city would only need one dispatching employee at any one time, while the county may need two during high-volume periods.

 

Sheriff Rick Hardesty said the county has answered 1,529 calls for service so far this year, including 839 traffic stops. He said during a grant-supported enforcement, deputies made 64 traffic stops in a four-hour period.

Jorn said a committee could make recommendations on what is best for the county and then the elected officials could iron out dollars and cents.

Jorn: “I think we actually ought to go back to a committee from each side and discuss this and then bring it out after we have a resolution.”

Regarding paying for the 911 updates, Jorn said the county has only been paying half of the costs when it should be paying the entire costs.

Jorn: “Really, if you look at it, the county should paying most of the 911 because you can tax the city as well as the county. Sometimes I think we disconnect from Falls City is in the county and they do pay taxes to the county.”

He said the city has been cost-sharing with the county at 50 percent, so really the county is getting a discount.

Sheriff Hardesty said the county’s rural residents are most impacted by the two-dispatching system because of the time lapse.

Sheriff said there can be a delay in 911 dispatching when a call go to the police and has to be patched over to the sheriff’s office. He said it poses a safety issue.

Hardesty: “Then we get the information and we’re 30 seconds, a minute, two-minutes into it. That’s my number one concern. I could care less whether we get it for free, whatever. To me we owe that to the people of Richardson County.”

Commissioner John Caverzagie said the issue will not be talked to death.

 

Caverzagie: “Right now we have two dispatch centers and that’s what we’re trying to get rid of. You can either dispatch for us, we’ll pay you whatever, or we’ll dispatch for you and  you pay us whatever. Trying to save the taxpayer dollars, I guess, is where we are at now.”

 Richardson County was one of the last counties in the state to go from basic 911 to enhanced 911, when the state’s Public Service Commission gave Richardson County the equipment.

Jorn said a regional group of counties was proposed to go to enhanced 911, which includes text to 911 and video, because the cost was unreasonably high for small counties of southeast Nebraska.

Hardesty suggested that a 911 committee would include a citizen of Falls City and a citizen from Humboldt.