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“It’s very critical to public safety and saving lives,” he said.
County commissioners can approve the assessment later this year without going on the ballot, per Ohio law, he said.
“It’s literally a life-saving system for all of the counties residents,” Springfield City Manager Jim Bodenmiller said. “We need a consistent and reliable funding system to continue to provide those systems. I appreciate the county leadership looking at all options.”
Leaders decided against a property tax levy, Lohnes said, because other counties have had that types of funding initially approved by voters but then rejected when it came up for renewal.
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“When you’re dealing with this kind of a project, you want to minimize risk,” he said. “It eliminates the risk and solves some future budgetary problems.”
The amount of the assessment is still be determined, Lohnes said, but might be in the range of about $60 annually or about $5 per month. The new dispatch center could cost up to $4 million, including renovations, security and new equipment, he said.
“We’re going to crunch as many numbers as we can before we send out the public notice,” Lohnes said. “We want to keep (the assessment) as small as we can, but we basically need about $3.1 (million) to $3.2 (million).”
Any tract of land that’s been improved, such as a building, driveway or structure, will be assessed the same fee, Clark County Commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said. Clark County currently has about 55,600 improved parcels.
“It’s the most fair way we can come up with funding, that’s for sure,” County Commissioner Lowell McGlothin said.
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The 9-1-1 system in Clark County is flawed, Lohnes said. Operations will improve if all jurisdictions are on the same system that will allow for emergency calls to go to one location. Currently 9-1-1 calls go to different dispatchers based on where callers are located and what type of phone they’re using, which can lead to delays in response times as calls are transferred between the city and county.
“A lot of people don’t know how much risk they’re in,” he said.
The system also will allow dispatchers to see where all law enforcement officers and fire personnel are located within Clark County at all times, Lohnes said, which also will improve safety.
“They’ll see it on their screen and they won’t have to pick up the phone and ask for other personnel,” he said.
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County commissioners also will hold public meetings later this month to discuss the proposed assessment, which will include the latest data possible, Lohnes said.
Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett will have jurisdiction over the facility, Lohnes said, which could open in early 2019.
It’s a great example of the city and county working together for the benefit of everyone who lives here, regardless of their address, Flax Wilt said.
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The combined dispatch center will likely lead to less positions through attrition, he said.
The townships also won’t have to pay for dispatching anymore and will have access to a state-of-the-art dispatch center to keep residents safe, Flax Wilt said.
“I know the townships highest priority is public safety, so this helps to further their goals at the same time giving us all better access to public safety,” she said. “As a resident of Clark County, that makes me feel good to know we’re going to have the quickest response regardless of where someone lives in the county.”
The county will also move its dispatchers out of the Clark County Jail building to Springview next year to provide more space for upgraded next generation 9-1-1 equipment, Lohnes said. It will allow those upgrades to be purchased for one system, he said.
Combined, the two dispatch centers cost about $3 million to operate annually with about 35 full-time employees that field about 150,000 calls annually.
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There are a lot of details that need to be worked through, Bodenmiller said.
“A funding solution has been our main challenge for the last year-and-a-half, two years,” he said. “I think once that’s set, we can continue to work on the fine details of the combination.”
TIMELINE
July 2013: Unified dispatch center plan moves forward
September 2013: Casino money might help pay for combined dispatch
March 2014: County dispatch to save German Twp. $30K
May 2014: Unified dispatch center technology to cost millions
September 2015: Combined 9-1-1 system on hold for Springfield, Clark County
June 2016: Report urges Springfield, county to look at merged government options
April 2016: Clark County Commissioner: Drowning highlights dispatch problems
September 2016: New Clark County 11 system will soon allow emergency texts
August 2016: State Auditor: Clark County could be test case for shared services
January of 2017: Clark County, Springfield still mulling combined dispatch center
Staying with the story
The Springfield News-Sun has tracked the city of Springfield and Clark County’s efforts to create a combined 9-1-1 emergency dispatch center for more than five years, including stories digging into the cost and call volumes.
By the numbers
$3 million: Amount of money Clark County and Springfield spend on dispatching annually combined.
55,500: The number of improved parcels in Clark County.
150,000: Estimated number of calls handled annually by Springfield and Clark County dispatchers.
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