Probing merger for call centers

A nine-member panel studying merger scenarios hopes to have support from Jay Williams.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mayor George McKelvey, who had offered $500,000 from the city to help pay for a possible merger of area emergency communications centers, said he'll leave merger recommendations on his desk for Mayor-elect Jay Williams to consider.
With the transition to Williams' administration about three weeks away, "I'm not going to commit Mayor-elect Williams to my vision," McKelvey said. "I believe he is 100 percent behind this initiative, but how he proceeds with it is up to him. I will recommend he pursue it aggressively."
Williams could not be reached to comment.
Atty. David Comstock Jr., who is also chief of the Western Reserve Joint Fire District, said a nine-member committee considering possible merger scenarios for area emergency communications centers has met several times and has reached a point where the panel cannot proceed without technical advice.
Comstock is a member of the merger committee and the group's spokesman. He said the committee put together a request to hire a consultant for technical advice and gave it to McKelvey because he had offered to help pay for it.
What's behind this
Comstock is among area emergency responders who believe a merger of Mahoning County and Youngstown communications centers -- or a merger of Youngstown, Mahoning and Trumbull county centers -- is a good idea, and that the concept fits national emergency response trends and the ever-changing requirements of Homeland Security.
Comstock said a recent report of the national 911 Commission said that four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, emergency responders have still not made much improvement to be better prepared for disasters -- particularly in the area of communications. Various agencies are still not communicating well with one another, he said.
He said a merger will save the merged districts money because there is a great deal of duplication of facilities and equipment, especially with radios and computers.
He emphasized that a merger would not necessarily cause loss of personnel as some people fear, because some of the centers are understaffed for the volume of calls.
Other committee members are Paul Harkey of First Energy, Shelly VanMeter of Youngstown 911 Center, Joe Marhulik of the Warren Police Department, Terry Reardon of Poland-area funeral homes and Duane Piccirilli of Help Hotline.
What Duzzny said
Walter Duzzny, Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency director, favors a merger of the emergency communications centers. Regionalization of emergency services, including communications centers, makes sense, he said.
Duzzny said the status quo, with Mahoning and Trumbull counties and the city of Youngstown all maintaining separate communications centers, is not an effective use of resources as emergency managers prepare for both natural disasters and those caused by terrorists.
Disasters know no boundaries, and Mahoning EMA's reach would extend into surrounding Ohio and western Pennsylvania counties if the need arose, Duzzny noted.
The trend in disaster preparedness and response since the Sept. 11 attacks is for law enforcement, medical and emergency management agencies to standardize emergency management, he said.
When disaster strikes, emergency responders at all jurisdictional levels will know the command structure, where command centers should be posted and who is in charge, he said.
Responders from local, state and federal agencies and across all disciplines must work together, communicate and depend on one another to effectively prepare and respond to emergencies, then help people recover, he said.
tullis@vindy.com