Since the email, Rue said the city has “seen a good bit of movement and communication,” toward resolving some issues. However, he said if the city were given an invoice today to pay a bill due tomorrow, it would not pay it.
The bill is due in July, Rue said, and the city will pay it if they see “movement in the right direction” or issues are resolved.
“We have every intention of not paying if nothing changes by July,” Rue said.
Flax Wilt said while the county is continuing to work toward improvements to the software available to first responders, what the city is asking for is outside of the scope of the contract, and it has no right to withhold payment.
Flax Wilt wrote in a response to Rue that the current agreement is for dispatch of city vehicles only and the county and city have been working since September to negotiate a contract to host city records and data in its software. She said few system crashes have been reported.
A more than $1 million contract provided to the News-Sun and signed by city and county officials established the joint 911 dispatch center and provided technology including radios, headsets and 911 phones. The contract is effective from Jan. 1, 2021, to Dec. 31, 2030.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office manages the 7,000-square-foot dispatch center, office and training facility. The center is located on Home Road.
Sheriff Deb Burchett did not respond to a request for comment.
In an email from Flax Wilt to Burchett and others involved in the dispatch center, the commissioner summarized a meeting in May last year in which there were discussions to form a user advisory group. She said in her email to Rue that Burchett had agreed to have her office start the group. Flax Wilt said this was never established and, “in the absence of leadership,” she is working to establish one to start meeting next month.
The contract outlines a dispute resolution process in which a county commissioner, a city commissioner and a representative of the 911 center form a dispute resolution board. The city may withhold payments to be placed in an escrow fund during this process, and dispatch services to the city would not be interrupted. Flax Wilt said the city has not initiated this process.
Springfield Fire Rescue Division Chief Jacob King said the problem is first responders’ limited access to the Spillman Flex public safety software. With full capabilities, he said the mobile app would allow firefighters and EMS workers to press a button to let dispatch know they were responding, rather than a three to four-step process of communicating with dispatch while other engines are doing the same and potentially clogging up the radio air waves.
The mobile app would also allow the closest vehicle to a call to respond to shorten response times and increase efficiency, King said. Because a unit may be on a call and has not radioed dispatch they are back in service, a different vehicle that is further away may be dispatched. The ability for responders to see incoming calls while on current ones and for dispatch to know where each vehicle is would improve overall response, he said.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
King said nearby counties like Montgomery, Greene and Miami all have access to this technology. The fire department is not asking for anything outside normal operation of the system, they would just like full access to bring response up to par with the majority of fire departments across the nation, he said.
First responders are currently using a software called Citrix, which connects from a computer to a mobile device, and is not designed for smaller screens, King said. This is difficult to use and important information relevant to a response is not quickly available, he said.
King, who previously worked as Bethel Twp.’s fire chief and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Department chief, said before the combined dispatch was brought online, he and others throughout the county believed they would have full access to the system, but have been told that this is not happening.
“We have been locked out of the full capabilities of the system,” King said. “Those capabilities are unlocked for everybody else in this entire region with their 911 centers and their CADS (computer-aided dispatch systems) to effectively respond to an emergency, whether that’s police or fire and EMS.”
In Flax Wilt’s email response to Rue, she said the Flex App requires a virtual private network, and the sheriff’s office currently requires a connection to Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS). LEADS and Flex cannot be used concurrently but she said this is worth discussions with the Operations Advisory Committee and incoming county Sheriff Chris Clark.
Springfield Police Division Chief Allison Elliott said police are experiencing similar issues and are using three different systems at once to do the job of one. She said full access to the Spillman Flex app would allow responders to access relevant information before a call in order to respond safely and as effectively as possible.
Elliott said increased capacity to allow more people on the system during major incidents would help response, too. She said the main concern is “making sure we’re keeping officer safety, first responder safety and citizen safety at the forefront.”
Currently, the city can have 125 users on the system at once, Flax Wilt said. This should be vehicles being dispatched.
Rue said that since his email, promising discussions have taken place.
Flax Wilt said the system is not perfect and the county’s philosophy “is that of continuous improvement.” The county commission manages the contract and houses the information systems department, which manages the network that enables software to be used.
The combined dispatch center itself is effective, though with greater access for first responders, dispatchers would need to do less work, King said. He said his No. 1 priority is making sure public safety forces are safe on the streets.
“This is a significant safety issue for all our members not having this access, and I believe our mayor and commission have heard us and understand the safety issues that our members are faced with (by) not having this system,” King said.
The city will continue working with the county to ensure the system works as intended and in the best way to serve first responders and the community, Rue said.
“The bottom line is we need to get this thing right for the citizens all across the county,” Rue said.
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