Mahoning commissioners shake up 911 dispatching jobs

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners this morning approved the abolition of dispatching jobs at the county’s 911 emergency answering point in the county administration building and the transfer of those employees to the Austintown and Boardman dispatching centers.

Under the 911 reorganization plan the commissioners approved March 31, six of the county’s 12 emergency 911 dispatchers were to go to Boardman and five to Austintown, with one taking a civilian job in the county sheriff’s office.

Under the plan, the dispatchers will become employees of those townships, respectively, on July 2.

The townships will each dispatch for their own territory and for jurisdictions previously served by the sheriff’s office, which has been overseeing the county’s 911 answering point since the end of 2014.

The new arrangement will reduce from nine to eight the number of 911 answering points in Mahoning County.

The change is being spurred by the fact that, beginning in 2018, the cellular phone 911 fees the state collects won’t go to more than three answering points per county (four in several counties with large cities).