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Editorials
Shuttering dispatch center makes sense, but... : Editorials : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisShuttering dispatch center makes sense, but...
| 3/7/2013
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For more than 40 years dispatchers at the Montgomery Police Department have been answering emergency calls at the village police station. But as we reported last week, that will likely change this fall when the village shuts down its dispatching center and all emergency 911 calls placed in the village are answered by dispatchers at KenCom, the dispatching service based in Yorkville. Since 1992 KenCom has provided dispatching services for most emergency agencies in Kendall County with the exception of Montgomery.
In recommending the village join KenCom, Village Police Chief Daniel Meyers noted the village will save $330,000 in the first year and then up to $500,000 annually in subsequent years.
The savings will be realized largely in personnel costs. The village currently has eight budgeted positions for its dispatch center, including a supervisor, two lead dispatchers and five dispatchers. A total of six of the eight positions are currently filled.
In addition to the savings on personnel costs, by joining KenCom the village will not be faced with the prospect of updating the costly equipment that it uses in its dispatching center. Meyers noted the current equipment has been in place for nearly eight years when the current police station was dedicated and will require updating and/or replacement in the not-so-distant future.
Instead of paying to staff and re-equip its own dispatch center, a proposed agreement with KenCom calls for the village to pay a flat fee of $219,000 annually to KenCom for dispatching services for the first five years of the agreement.
Meyers has proposed the village could redirect some of the funds it now spends on dispatchers to hire up to three new police officers, which would boost police presence throughout the village, enhancing safety for village residents and current officers.
Most importantly, Meyers noted that village residents should not notice any change when they need to dial 911 in an emergency and KenCom answers the calls at the agency's center in Yorkville. KenCom dispatchers will answer the calls and then dispatch village police or the appropriate local fire protection district just as village dispatchers have done over the past four decades.
It makes absolute financial sense for the village to join KenCom. But from a personnel standpoint closing the village's dispatching center will mean six current village employees will be without their jobs this fall. Sadly, some of the dispatchers have loyally served the village and its residents for more than 20 years. Fortunately, there is a continuing demand for trained dispatchers like those currently employed by the village, according to Meyers. We believe Meyers and other village staff should make a maximum effort in assisting village dispatchers in securing new jobs with other area agencies.
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