Officials reach consensus on radio dispatch cost sharing
BY ROD ROSE
The Lebanon Reporter

Lebanon -- Population will decide how much Lebanon, Zionsville and Boone County for emergency dispatching services, officials of the three governments decided after a two-hour meeting Tuesday.

** Story used by permission **

The agreement calls for payments over 15 years, with provisions to change the amount the three partners pay, based on population estimates made every two or three years. County officials, who are expected to approve $6 million to complete its police and fire radio system, wanted some assurances from the two entities before it finalizes the deal, possibly later this month.

Other towns may be asked to contribute to the system's cost if their growth puts more pressure on the central dispatch system that will based at the Boone County Jail. A back-up station will be built in Zionsville.

The county council has the final say on approving, or rejecting, money for the radio purchase.

Officials agreed the council "would almost have to increase" the 9-1-1 fee telephone consumers pay each month to raise money for the new radio system. The fee is now 69 cents; it could go no higher than $1.96.

"It's going to be an interesting contract, because it's got a lot of moving parts," county attorney O.A. Kincaid III said.

"We've got to get something done by the end of this month," Kincaid said. "Otherwise, we're going to lose a $79,000 discount."

Motorola, suppliers of the 800-megahertz radio system that will let virtually every firefighter, policeman, EMT and other emergency workers talk to one another, is offering that much off the price of buying individual radios. The sale has been extended several times but Aug. 31 is the cut-off, said Zionsville Marshal Jim Wampler.

One option is for the county "to sign a lease with (Motorola) and then go about figuring out how to finance it, or something else," Kincaid said.

Kincaid will draft an agreement the Boone County Council to review. It will take "probably two or three weeks" to write the draft, Kincaid said after a meeting with Lebanon and Zionsville officials, police and fire agency representatives and the Boone County Commissioners.

Lebanon, Zionsville and Boone County each pay about one-third of the cost of operating a central dispatch center at the Boone County Jail. Tuesday's meeting was to discuss possible changes in that funding.

The group debated several aspects of the agreement.

"Some issues come to mind," Zionsville Town Board President Dick Crane said. He questioned why the Boone County Sheriff's Department needs 13 dispatchers, wanted to know how the cost of the system was determined, sought performance standards for dispatchers, agreement on how new equipment would be bought, information on "the scope of the service" and renewal options.

Sheriff Dennis Brannon said the 1991 agreement creating central dispatch was intended to improve service.

County police agencies shared the same frequency, he said. "Back then, they were duplicating services." Responses to calls to and from patrol officers and police stations partly depended on "who pushed the button first," he said.

The county is obliged to answer 9-1-1 calls, Brannon said, "but there's no state statute we have to dispatch" for other agencies.

With Duke Realty's massive Anson development finally under way and Whitestown experiencing a new home boom, the group tried to anticipate future costs of emergency dispatch.

Fire departments "feel very under-represented" on the radio system agreement, Wampler said.

Wampler "strongly" backed Brannon's proposal to hire a director of communications who would oversee the system's maintenance and personnel.

Brannon is asking the county council for $70,000, with the expectation that figure will be cut, to hire a communications director.

Wampler said the position could more than pay for itself through federal grant revenue.

Commissioner Harold "Huck" Lewis cut off another rehashing of who pays and how much with a curt, "Either pay it and do the radio (system), or don't pay it and don't have the radio."

"We just want to pay a fair share," Wampler said.

"Of a fair amount," Crane added.

Lebanon paid $168,000 for this year's dispatch budget, said Mayor Jim Acton. But Zionsville had budgeted only $150,000; Wampler said the extra $18,000 was a surprise.

Zionsville should get credit for buying $190,000 "of real equipment" and then contributing it to the new radio system.

"We were buying these radios for us and we turned them into this project," he said.

Crane questioned the need for 13 dispatchers, but that number may not be sufficient.

Dispatchers do more than answer telephones and radio calls, Brannon said. They also control access to and within the jail, he said.

Most of the time, Wampler said, "of the three dispatchers, only two are doing dispatch duties."

But Wampler hedged on that by remarking he has been involved in airplane crashes when 20 dispatchers weren't enough.

After the meeting, Kincaid was asked if the draft agreement would give the county council enough information to approve or reject the radio purchase.

"You're asking me to speculate on how much information the council may or may not need," Kincaid said.

"I'm not a speculator," he laughed.