Friday, September 21, 2007
County officials must agree by the end of 2008 how to spend around $1.5 million or lose it.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN — The state 911 coordinator for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio says he cannot provide any legal answers to help Trumbull County police and fire officials agree on how to split the now $830,000 pot of wireless 911 money the commission is holding for the county.
Shawn S. Smith of the PUCO attended a meeting of the county 911 review board Thursday because representatives of the seven cities and townships with their own dispatching centers and representatives for the county 911 center have been arguing for months about whether the money should go to each of the dispatching centers to upgrade their equipment.
Smith said the PUCO doesn’t dictate to counties how the 32-cent-per-month wireless charge collected from each cell phone user in Ohio should be used.
The fee, which is set to expire at the end of 2008, is designed to help counties provide enhanced wireless 911 services.
“The state can’t come in and tell you how to handle the issue. That’s up to you,” Smith said. “It’s done 100 different ways across the state.”
When asked whether a proposal is legal that was put forth by seven city and township dispatching centers to use some of the wireless fees to upgrade their dispatching equipment Smith said yes.
State law
Ohio law requires each county to establish a countywide plan for how its 911 system will operate. Once that is in place, the money is released to each county.
Trumbull is likely to receive between $1.4 million and $1.5 million by the end of 2008, Smith said.
Mike Dolhancryk, the county 911 director, has proposed using about $400,000 of the cell phone fee to upgrade a map that will enable 911 call takers to pinpoint the location of wireless 911 calls to a precise location.
He also has proposed cutting off the money the county has been paying to maintain the dispatching equipment used at dispatching centers such as those in Warren, Niles (which dispatches for Weathersfield Township and McDonald), Newton Falls, Girard, Hubbard and Lordstown (which dispatches for Warren Township).
Months of meetings involving Dolhancryk and other emergency services officials have not resolved the issue.
Smith said the county has until the end of 2008 to arrive at a plan, or the money will be distributed to another county.
But police officials such as Warren Police Capt. Tim Bowers say decisions need to be made now so that life-saving technology isn’t delayed.
runyan@vindy.com