SALEM Officials prepare to revisit 911 issue

City officials still believe the new emergency system will cost Salem money.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Now that voters have approved a monthly telephone surcharge to help fund a modernized 911 system, city council is preparing to revisit the issue of whether the city's dispatch center should field 911 calls.
Council's committee-of-the-whole, which consists of all seven council members, will take up the matter at a meeting set for 5 p.m. today at city hall.
In October, council voted against becoming a 911 answering point, which had been proposed by the group of elected and safety officials planning a new 911 system.
Being an answering point means taking 911 calls and routing them to the emergency agency that will handle them.
In Salem's case, its fire and police dispatchers would handle 911 calls from the city and Perry Township, which surrounds Salem.
The city's dispatching center already handles emergency calls from those areas when police and fire are directly dialed.
The Columbiana County sheriff's office answers the city and township's 911 calls and then transfers them directly to the city's dispatching center.
If Salem doesn't become an answering point, the sheriff's office would continue performing that task.
Other communities that already have agreed to be answering points are East Liverpool, East Palestine and Columbiana.
Points of concern
Salem City Council members who voted against the answering-point proposal expressed concern that the change would cost the city money in training and equipment costs, something that 911 organizers say isn't so.
The new system, including equipment for answering points, will be paid for from revenue produced by a 50-cent monthly telephone surcharge. Another source will be a $400,000 fund provided by the state through a deal with Ameritech that resulted from a service dispute.
Voters approved the surcharge in this month's general election.
Councilman Greg Oesch, R-3rd, said recently he isn't convinced that all the new system's costs will be covered.
He said he's worried that eventually the county will want answering-point communities to cough up funds of their own.
"There's always hidden costs," Oesch said.
He also wondered whether city dispatchers would have to take on an added duty -- emergency medical dispatching -- if the city were to become a 911 answering point.
Organizers of the new 911 system have said that isn't the case.
leigh@vindy.com