LEETONIA Police chief to try to keep dispatchers

The department will keep its LEADS and Amber Alert systems.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Callers to the village police and fire dispatch center will still hear familiar voices on the other end of the phone line.
Police Chief John Soldano had recommended to village council that the village turn over dispatching services to Columbiana or Beaver Township in Mahoning County to reduce the department's operating costs.
Soldano said Friday, however, that he wants to look more closely at other areas of his budget and surrender dispatching services only as a last resort.
Columbiana Police Chief John Krawchyk said he and Soldano met in recent weeks to discuss the switch. Krawchyk said Columbiana City Council has been discussing taking over Leetonia's dispatching, but those plans are now on hold.
Councils must approve
Soldano and Krawchyk said Leetonia and Columbiana councils would have to approve any agreement between the two communities.
With the village in a financial crunch, Soldano must cut $64,000 from the $300,000 budget he had last year. Village Clerk Judy Garlough said that overall, the 2004 budget is about $100,000 less than 2003's. Soldano must cut the most, but he has the largest budget, funding a 24-hour department, Garlough said.
"I'd hate to see us lose our dispatch center just to be in compliance with the budget," said Leetonia Councilman Dan Valentine. "The dispatch center is an intricate part of the community -- it's backbone."
Valentine said people rely on the dispatchers for more than police and fire calls. They call to ask questions about village activities or services, such as when there is a waterline break, or to find out trick-or-treat or street fair hours, he said.
Soldano said he and the department's officers and dispatchers have worked hard to build a good rapport with village citizens.
Although the dispatchers work part time, several of them have worked in the village for many years.
Accounting for shortfall
Soldano said he has to reduce his budget significantly because village officials have said continuing increases in operation costs, loss of income tax revenue, and severe reductions in interest earned on bank accounts and investments account for most of the shortfall.
Soldano said full-time department employees will pay a portion of their health-insurance premiums, and he will be modifying some shifts to reduce costs.
Some phone lines have been removed, and there will be no funding for training or a clothing allowance for employees this year.
Soldano said, however, that the department will keep its Amber Alert system, which typically uses radio and television announcements as a means of quickly reaching people when a child is reported missing. The system was installed this week.
The department also will keep its Law Enforcement Automated Data System. LEADS costs the department about $7,000 per year.
The LEADS system is the Columbus-based computer system used by dispatchers to look up driver's license information, outstanding warrants and other matters when police make traffic stops.
With its own LEADS system in place, the Leetonia dispatchers can look up the information and relay it directly to officers. Without it, the dispatchers have to call Columbiana city police or the Columbiana County Sheriff's Department to get LEADS information, then relay the information to the officers, Soldano said.