Local Weather Forecast
Today: Current:76	Friday: 92/71	Saturday: 93/73
Complete Forecast for  Aug 22 2008

TOP JOBS

By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer

Smith County 911 Communications District board members will meet Thursday at 10 a.m. to discuss terminating its dispatching contracts and turning over dispatching responsibility to Smith County.

The 911 Dispatch Center oversees and operates the dispatching for the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, 13 volunteer fire departments, the University of Texas at Tyler, the Smith County Constable’s Office and the cities of Bullard, Troup and Winona.

“All I’m doing is asking for those cities to approve me to assigning my obligations to the sheriff’s department,” 911 Director Bill Morales said.

Since the 911 Communications District took over dispatching in 2003, Morales said there has been an emergence of 911 technologies.

Because of those new technologies, Morales said he has decided to ask the board to remove the 911 Communications District out of the dispatching business and refocus on the 911 network system that directs all 911 calls.

Smith County Commissioner JoAnn Fleming said the Commissioners Court was aware of discussion to turn dispatching operations over to the county.

“In our last long-range planning meeting, Sheriff Smith informed the Commissioners Court that he wanted to bring operations back to the sheriff’s department. We will be considering his request and the associated cost during our budget workshop,” Ms. Fleming said.

Morales said the Communications District’s purpose is to ensure the technology is in place so that when a caller dials 911 on any land line, cell phone or communication device, the call is properly routed through the phone system so the call is answered by the appropriate emergency responder.

“Once it hits that district that’s where the responsibility should end,” he said.

In Texas, counties with populations greater than 75,000 are allowed to establish 911 districts, which allow service fees on residential, business and cellular phone lines. According to the Emergency Communica-tions District Act of 1984 the money is collected by the state, deposited in a state treasury account, then sent back to the regional 911 programs.

The 50 cent surcharge on every phone bill in Smith County goes toward paying for the 911 network system, not the dispatchers.

“Dispatching is a separate budget,” Morales said.

Morales explained that if the board approves to terminate the dispatching agreements and turn dispatch over to the county, his employees would only be in charge of the technology that delivers the information to the dispatchers — not answering 911 calls and dispatching emergency personnel.

“We’re getting back to what our office was originally intended for,” Morales said.

In 1999, governmental entities in Smith County developed an idea to combine the city and county’s 911 response centers into one facility that would act as a hub for all emergency communications for Tyler, Bullard, Winona and Troup, as well as Smith County.

Their hope was to streamline communication and shorten response time, but the communications district officials said that did not work out.

In 2004, a year after construction was completed on the new 911 Communications District building on Spur 248, the city of Tyler City Council voted unanimously to terminate its part of the consolidation agreement. The council was concerned with the steadily increasing cost of operating a 911 call center.

Now, the Tyler Police Department dispatches its own calls.

Since putting the dispatching responsibility on the Communications District, there has been a division between the dispatchers and the sheriff’s patrol officers on the street, Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith said.

“The dispatchers don’t know anything about the officers they are dispatching,” Smith said. “That’s not uncommon in big cities, but it’s an asset to the smaller communities.”

To fix that problem, Smith wants his dispatchers back.

“It’s better for service and for the safety of the officer on the street,” he said.

Smith said more than a million dollars from his budget goes to paying the 911 Communications District for its dispatching services. If the county takes over dispatching, Smith said the only difference will be him paying the dispatcher directly.

“It’s not going to affect the taxpayers any,” he said. “We are going to continue taking care of people.”

In addition to asking 911 Communications Board to terminate inter-local agreements and submit an assignment of rights and obligation of inter-local agreements for dispatch services to Smith County, Morales is asking the board to consider authorizing a lease with Smith County for the 911 building and its contents.

“We would propose a lease of the building for five years because it makes sense; otherwise, I am out here with my five employees in a big building. That doesn’t serve any purpose,” Morales said.

Ms. Fleming said that in a recent executive session, the Commissioners Court was informed by the 911 director that the board wanted to get out of its current facility.

“He was notifying the Commissioners Court that the building would possibly be available for lease. The bottom line of that discussion was that Director Morales would get further direction from his board and bring additional information back to our legal counsel for consideration,” Ms. Fleming said.