By Chris Havens, Star Tribune
Original publication date: Jan. 19

Ramsey County, Minn. — The Ramsey County Board on Tuesday approved two contracts with consultants to evaluate the emergency dispatch system used by 16 communities in the county, including St. Paul.

It’s the first major step in what could be a multimillion-dollar upgrade or replacement project likely to involve political debate. The current computer-aided dispatch system is aging and outdated.

Deltawrx, a California-based consulting company, will receive about $100,000 to perform a “needs assessment,” which includes evaluating how the current system works, what new features it should have and whether upgrading or replacement makes more sense.

About $30,000 will go to Stillwater-based Elert & Associates to manage the project.

Commissioners voted unanimously with no discussion on the matter.

The work should take about six months, said Scott Williams, director of the county’s Emergency Communications Center. Once the consultants gather information and make recommendations, he said, they will hold meetings with elected officials and other stakeholders.

The last upgrade to the system, in 2006, cost more than $2 million.

The computer-aided dispatch system allows authorities to enter information about an emergency incident, record it and share it with others. About 500,000 calls come in each year, and it costs between $750,000 and $1 million to operate the system annually. Ramsey County pays a third of that cost, but the city of St. Paul owns the system. Ramsey County runs the dispatch center, which handles police, fire and emergency medical calls. The center works with nine law enforcement agencies and nine fire departments. There used to be four emergency dispatch centers in the county; all but one merged in 2007. White Bear Lake remained independent.

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