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Dispatching-ruling appeal mulled
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Trumbull County officials aren’t speaking much about a judge’s decision concerning the battle between the county’s small and large police- and fire- dispatching organizations and the way 911 calls are received and distributed.
That’s because the smaller dispatching operations on the losing end of the ruling by Judge John M. Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court still must decide whether to appeal, said Pat Ungaro, Liberty Township administrator.
Liberty, Hubbard, Niles, Newton Falls and Girard filed suit in 2008 to void the plan enacted by the Trumbull County 911 Planning Committee that called for the county’s 911 operation on Howland-Wilson Road in Howland to serve as the primary 911 call-answering point for the county, with Warren and Niles as backups.
The plan didn’t call for eliminating the dispatching operations in Liberty, Hubbard, Newton Falls and Girard, but it called for taking away funding for upgrades to their dispatching equipment and giving it to the county, Warren and Niles.
The judge ruled the 911 planning committee’s plan is lawful.
Commissioner Frank Fuda said this week he believes there is a desire on the part of some of the communities that filed the suit to work more closely with the county.
Commissioner Paul Heltzel, an attorney, said he will refrain from commenting on the matter until 30 days have passed from the date of Judge Stuard’s Oct. 18 ruling because that’s how long the parties have to appeal the judge’s decision.
Ungaro said he thinks Liberty and the other parties that filed the suit are going to meet soon to decide whether to appeal.
As for Liberty, the township has two years left on a 1.25-mill levy that provides $300,000 per year to run Liberty’s dispatching operation, so that gives Liberty some time to decide whether changes should be made, he said.
In Girard, officials have been working to make changes to its dispatching operation since just after the lawsuit was filed.
Mayor James Melfi said the city shifted from having four full-time dispatchers 18 months ago to having one full-timer and five part-timers. The changes took place through attrition, Melfi said.
The cost of dispatcher staffing dropped from $180,000 per year to $110,000 per year.
This way, the city still has someone in the police department at all times to provide citizens with assistance, the mayor said.
“Wherever this lawsuit goes, we’re not going to change our 911 system,” Melfi said.
Warren Police Chief Tim Bowers said he believes technology has come far enough in the two years since the lawsuit was filed to eliminate concerns that were expressed by the smaller dispatching operations, especially with regard to how smoothly calls will be transferred from the county 911 center to the other dispatching centers.
Niles Police Chief Bruce Simeone and others have said they fear that having the county take the call first will lead to delays.
Bowers said, however, “I think the call will go to the right place right from the beginning.”