Future of Niles dispatchers in question in city's recovery plan

NILES

Questions about allocating $124,000 from the utility departments to pay police dispatchers have placed state approval of the city’s revised recovery plan from fiscal emergency on hold, Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia revealed Tuesday.

Should auditors reject that component of the plan, the dispatchers’ days on the job could be numbered.

The mayor told The Vindicator if the auditors do not approve, he will have no choice but to lay off the dispatchers and turn their responsibilities over to Trumbull County’s 911 system.

“If I have to contract with the county, I will,” the mayor said, “but that means there will be nobody at the station because [the police] will all be on the road.”

Read more about the situation in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.