Meeting will be held at DPW facility
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
The City of Burlington will discuss the future of its emergency services dispatching system at a special meeting of the Common Council on Sept. 27.
Meeting will be held at the city’s Department of Public Works facility, 2200 S. Pine St., beginning at 6 p.m.
The meeting was moved from the regular Sept. 19 Common Council agenda because all of the aldermen could not be in attendance at that meeting, City Administrator Carina Walters said.
At the heart of the discussion is whether to spend the money needed to restore the city’s emergency dispatching equipment – which was destroyed in the July flood – or join the Racine County Communications Center, which is based in Sturtevant. The county service represents a potential savings due to economies of scale. However, it comes at a loss of local resources and services that could occur if the city-employed dispatchers disappear.
Burlington is currently the only community in the county that does not use the county communications center.
“It’s not going to be a quick decision,” Walters cautioned at meeting earlier this month.
Mayor likes status quo
Both Mayor Jeannie Hefty and Police Chief Mark Anderson are on record in favor or restoring local dispatching capabilities.
Since the flood, city dispatchers have been handling emergency and non-emergency radio dispatching of city police officers, but do not have the capability to handle 911 fire and rescue calls. The dispatchers continue to provide their non-dispatch-related services in the interim. The county has been handling the fire and rescue dispatching for the city since the flood.
In an interview last month, Hefty said she believes the local dispatchers give the city the best service because of their familiarity with the area, its residents and the local police force.
“I have worked with these individuals and know what they’re capable of,” said Hefty, who is also a member of the Burlington Rescue Squad.
Anderson said in a previous interview the local dispatchers give the police department a 24/7 presence from the lobby of the police station. Without them, it’s possible the police station hours will be restricted to regular daytime business hours.
The dispatchers are responsible for supervising the municipal lockup facility, completing clerical work, and answering requests for service that come to the lobby in addition to ensuring emergency personnel reach the correct destination.
Members of the dispatching staff, in a letter to the editor of the Burlington Standard Press published Aug. 10, said, “Access to counter services such as paying fines, picking up incident reports and monitored custody exchanges would be greatly limited” if local dispatching is eliminated.
City officials could, however, decide to hire a clerk or additional police officer to handle some of those duties during set hours.
Costs to be weighed
According to figures supplied at the Aug. 1 Common Council meeting, it would cost $250,000 to restore all needed dispatching equipment at the police station. The city would also have the ongoing annual cost of paying the salaries and benefits of its dispatch staff.
The cost of contracting with Racine County was originally estimated at $190,000 annually for Burlington when the Communications Center was expanded and all communities were invited to join in 2010, according to county officials.
The actual cost for Burlington to join the county-run program now is contingent on a number of factors and would be subject to negotiations between the city and county.
The current members of the Communications Center will see their payments to the county decrease over a 20-year period until the full cost of the service is covered by the county’s tax levy. Any agreement with the City of Burlington would have to take that factor into consideration. The other communities joined in 2010 and their costs will be assumed by the county in 2029.
Jackie Bratz, director of the Communications Center, told the Standard Press in August the county employs 46 dispatchers and three shift supervisors. Shift staffing typically varies from six to 12 dispatchers depending on the shift, she said.
Those numbers would likely grow if Burlington’s call volume were added to the mix.
Whether any of Burlington’s dispatchers would be offered jobs with the county would be dependent on negotiations between the city and county and the additional need for dispatchers to handle the increased volume, Bratz said.
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