| Synopsis: |
The 2001 Oregon State Legislature passed HB397. A
major focus of the legislation is to facilitate consolidation of Public Safety
Answering Points (PSAPs) in multi-PSAP counties. The bill requires multi-PSAP
counties to jointly submit a consolidation plan to Oregon Emergency Management
(OEM) by September 1, 2002.
There are three PSAPs in Jackson County including the Ashland Police
Department, Medford Police Department, and Southern Oregon Regional
Communications (SORC). Each center receives a certain amount of State funding
from the 911 tax. The 2001 Legislature expressed their intent that in biennia
beyond the 2001-2003 biennium, State tax revenues will only be used to support
one PSAP in each county. |
| Background: |
There is a difference between a dispatch center and
a PSAP. A PSAP is, in a nutshell, the 911 system. An entity can have a dispatch
center that receives incoming calls and dispatches emergency services over
the radio or mobile data computers. A dispatch center does not necessarily
have to have 911 capabilities. All three dispatch centers in the county are
PSAPs that have 911 phone lines and handle both 911 calls and other calls
for service.
Seven dispatchers and one supervisor staff the Ashland Police Department
PSAP/dispatch center. We provide service seven days a week, twenty-four hours
a day. Because we are a relatively small center (the smallest of the three
in our county), we staff the center with one or two dispatchers depending
on workload, vacation, training, sick leave, etc.
The Center provides service for Ashland Police, Ashland Fire/Rescue,
Ashland Ambulance, SOU Security, and after hour’s public works. SOU
contributes about $55,000 for dispatch services. Because we often only have
one dispatcher on duty, we have tried to increase our resources by inviting
Talent PD, Phoenix PD, and Fire District Five to use our center versus SORC.
Adding their financial resources would have allowed us to have a minimum
of two dispatchers on duty at all times and the costs would have been lower
for those three agencies. For the past two years, this has not been politically
viable.
Now that we have a mandate to develop a consolidation plan, it would
be to our advantage to explore all possibilities. Listed below are several
issues or concerns that tend to either support consolidation, or make a case
for staying the way we are:
-
As activity increases, one dispatcher is inadequate for our
needs.
-
We have eight City employees whose jobs may be at stake if we used
another center. Consolidation would likely include the opportunity for those
employees to be hired by that center.
-
When considering personnel costs with the attached benefits, training,
equipment, etc., there would likely be a cost savings contracting with another
center.
-
It is unknown if SORC has the capacity to handle our
workload.
-
Medford PD is building a new communications center and if they were
to provide 911 and/or dispatch service to Ashland, they could incorporate
that into their plans.
-
We currently use “field staff” to provide breaks and back-up
for our dispatchers.
-
If we do not receive the State revenues and choose to run a full-service
PSAP/dispatch center, we would need to pick-up the extra costs ourselves
and still be dealing with understaffing issues in our center.
-
If we decided to have another center provide only PSAP, we would still
need to staff the dispatch center and we would still be short the State revenues
plus whatever else the contract center may charge for their services. In
this scenario, the contracted PSAP would have to transfer the 911 calls to
our dispatchers, which adds a step to the process.
-
If another center provides all our services, we may not have as much
direct control over the service level to our citizens.
-
We have recently received a federal grant for Mobile Data Computers
for our police vehicles. Any of the centers can handle that technology but
it would be in our best interests to wait and see from where we will receive
communication services before implementing that program.
-
Once the regional consolidation plan is completed, it may be that
a full-service back up PSAP is needed in this County and that may be a viable
role for Ashland’s center.
-
If we contract with another center, the vacated office space could
be used for future growth of the Ashland Police Department.
The next few months will supply us with important information on what
direction is best for the City of Ashland. Staff will continue to provide
the Council, Mayor, and City Administrator with updates as the situation
develops. |
