By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–The Henry County 911 Board unanimously gave the official green light to creation of a Central Dispatch for the county.
After much discussion at Monday’s meeting, the board directed 911 Director Mark Archer and Board President John Etheridge to negotiate on behalf of the board at a joint meeting of Paris city and county officials who will be meeting later this week.
The 911 board has been moving toward creation of a centralized dispatch for some time but had never formally voted on it. Etheridge said the city and county would be holding the meeting shortly, with several issues to be discussed, namely liability issues and under whose jurisdiction 911 and dispatch employees would be.
Etheridge pointed out that 911 historically has provided the equipment and technology for dispatch “and we’ve been preparing for some time for dispatch to be located here (in the 911 building), but now we have the issues of whose employees are they? Who pays their paychecks?”
Etheridge said he was leaning toward the dispatchers and supervisors answering to the Paris City Manager “and I’d like to see things structured so that we are not liable for dispatcher’s activities, but still responsible for the equipment and technology, like always.”
Sheriff Josh Frey said the recent tornado that hit Henry County was an illustration of how needed a Central Dispatch is in the county. “That really showed how much we need a Central Dispatch here. We get all these calls and now we’re in separate buildings. It makes more sense for everybody to be in one location.”
During the tornado emergency, Frey said the dispatcher at the sheriff’s office “was overwhelmed with calls”, so much so that an off-duty dispatcher came in to help and one of the jailers also was helping with calls.”
Frey said, “There have been numerous occasions when if all the dispatchers were in one facility, everything would be 10 times easier. As a 911 board member and sheriff, centralization is the way to go. Questions about who will be the managers are something we can work out, but really need to get the Central Dispatch going.”
Frey said, “We’re just one step away from having a Central Dispatch now anyway. It would promote officer safety, gave us better communication and more safety for the officers, first responders and the community.”
Board members authorized Etheridge and Archer to act on behalf of the 911 board at the upcoming meeting and to report back with any decisions made as to whose umbrella the Central Dispatch would serve.
In other business:
–The board welcomed Paris Police Dispatch Supervisor Kattica Buckley to the meeting.
–Archer reported the property on the Highway 218 bypass was sold for $131,500, which represented a profit of $35,000 for the board. The property was purchased several years ago but had never been used by the 911 program and board members recently decided to sell it.
–The county radio project is now complete, Archer said, but there are still some compatibility issues which are being fixed.
–Archer reported the generator was hit by lightning recently and was covered by insurance. “It cost $8100 to fix and we paid $1,000 under our insurance,” he said.