November 17, 2005

By Robert Mihalek

Village administrators said last week that the Village is interested in the “concept” of joining a centralized dispatching center, though they made it clear that the Yellow Springs Police Department will not participate in the proposed service until a number of concerns are addressed.

At Village Council’s meeting on Nov. 7, Police Chief John Grote and interim Village Manager Phil Hawkey said the Village should continue to participate in discussions about the creation of a dispatching center for Greene County communities.

But they said the Village needs more information about the dispatching center before it will commit to the venture.

“It’s clearly something that’s going forward on a county level,” Hawkey said of the center. “We need to be part of the discussion” of the center’s creation, he said.

Grote and Hawkey recommended that the Village submit to Greene County a cautionary “letter of intent” expressing interest in continuing to participate in discussions and meetings about the center. Council members gave them the go-ahead to send the letter.

Howard Poston, the Greene County administrator, had asked county jurisdictions to submit a letter of intent by Nov. 21. Understanding how many jurisdictions are interested in participating in the center would help with planning, Poston said in a letter to the Village.

In the Village’s letter, Grote said the Village is interested in the concept of a centralized dispatching center. However, he also expressed concern about Poston’s proposal, writing that Poston asked for a commitment “based solely on the economics of a centralized dispatch center.”

Grote wrote that questions about operations, logistics, equipment and management of the center have yet to be worked out.

“The Village of Yellow Springs is interested in the idea of a central dispatching [center] for Greene County,” Grote said in the letter. “Our decision to participate will be based on multiple criteria like service, management and cost.”

During last week’s Council meeting, Grote said, “there’s a lot of bigger issues here.”

Grote said his “number one concern” is the level of service the dispatching center would provide. He said he wants to ensure that the center would provide Yellow Springs residents the same quality of service that they currently receive.

The county has told the Village that the dispatch center could accept calls for both the Police Department and the Village utility departments. The Yellow Springs Police Department often takes calls about utility issues, especially after the Village offices have closed at nights and on weekends.

Last month, CACI, a private consulting group hired by the Greene County commissioners to study possible sites for a centralized dispatch center, recommended that the center be built on Greene Way Boulevard in Xenia.

Poston told the Village it is believed that “combining all of the dispatching operations in the county would result in economies-of-scale and a reduced financial cost for the participating entities.”

Eliminating dispatching from the Yellow Springs Police Department by participating in the county dispatching service is seen as an option to save the Village money over time. The Village has estimated that it could save $75,000 a year.

Grote has said that the Village would eliminate three full-time and five part-time employees, though the department would still have to employ administrative staff. A clerk would be needed to answer phones, process villagers’ requests and assist police officers.

Contact: rmihalek@ysnews.com