Area 9-1-1 Consortium Takes Shape 8 Counties Plan 1st-in-Indiana Unified System
Vivian Sade, Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
A multicounty emergency dispatch network that would allow one northeast Indiana county to take over when communications are down in another has taken a step toward reality.
Eight counties, with Allen County at the center, have formed the Northeast Indiana 911 Consortium to develop the system. Ultimately, a single dispatch office could handle emergencies for all counties involved.
The consortium – made up of Whitley, Wells, Noble, DeKalb, LaGrange, Adams, Steuben and Allen counties – is the first of its kind in Indiana, and state officials say they are keeping an eye on the process.
Banding together allows the consortium to save money by buying in quantity, establish mutual aid protocols over large geographical areas and establish professional standards for the region.
But how soon a unified system could be up and running and whether all counties would agree to a single dispatching hub is unclear.
The call for emergency crews to be able to communicate with each other and make changes to outdated equipment began with a breakdown in communications after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Federal, state and local agencies were unable to communicate because they were on different systems.
Since then, the Federal Communications Commission has encouraged states and counties to consider communication systems that offer inter-operability – meaning the systems can communicate with the county and state systems – for more safety and mobility, said Timothy Lee, executive director of the Consolidated Communications Partnership. The agency is a merger of the emergency communication systems of Allen County and Fort Wayne.
If a tornado or storm wipes out a 911 center in one county, communications can be moved in a matter of minutes to another county. Dispatchers from the affected county could drive to Fort Wayne’s center and bring up their system immediately, Lee said.
“All counties will be interchangeable,” Lee said.
The local group is following recommendations from the FCC to help create a national, seamless communications system, Lee said.
In the coming year, the consortium will work to establish minimum standards for dispatchers. Once that’s in place, the group will begin training the region’s dispatchers so they can work at any county or state dispatch center, Lee said.
In a year, all members of the consortium should be operating with new inter-operable equipment. The group will then begin establishing operational standards for all dispatchers. Lee said it will then take up to five years to have every dispatcher in the region cross- trained to work across county lines.
The region’s buying power has already resulted in a 70 percent savings on Allen County’s new digital phone system, Lee said.
Two years ago, the phone project was estimated to cost the city- county center $1.4 million.
“That price is now $600,000,” Lee said. “Everything was controlled by only one vendor; we have changed that.”
With the saving in maintenance and the vendor discount, the new system will save the county $100,000 a year after the equipment is in place, and about $750,000 over six years, Lee said.
Other counties in the consortium are in various stages of ordering, buying or installing their new equipment, Lee said.
“Last October, we gave everyone an 18-month window to buy and install equipment,” Lee said.
The Fort Wayne-Allen County 911 call center is replacing and installing the public safety communications system at a cost of about $17 million, with the system set to launch this fall. Renovations are being made allowing the center to move from its present basement accommodations to the sixth floor of the Rousseau Centre.
Allen County will have the capacity to become the central information network, receiving all emergency calls and dispatching them to the proper officials if necessary.
According to Barry Ritter, executive director of the Indiana Enhanced Wireless 911 Board, state law dictates no more than two call centers per county.
“There is nothing that requires or prevents the consolidation of 911 centers,” Ritter said. “As long as the agencies or counties agreed and had some sort of interlocal agreement, they could merge.”
In Indiana this has happened only once, he said.
“Fountain and Warren counties are two very small counties and they consolidated a number of years ago,” Ritter said.
“We would like to be one stop and shop facility and expand what we have,” Lee said, “but there are some unknowns.”
Allen County Department of Homeland Security Director Bernie Beier said he would expect some reluctance on the part of smaller counties to join a regional call center, but sometimes the cost savings forces government to consider consolidations.
“Sometimes local communities are best served by locals. It’s a matter of personal pride,” Beier said.
Not all consortium counties are touting full integration.
Whitley County is a member of the consortium for the training advantages and discounts it offers, but officials say they are not sure consolidation is the way to go. Whitley has two call centers – one operated by the county and one by Columbia City.
County 911 director Scott Jones said he realized the value of having two centers in proximity when lightning struck the county operation a few years ago.
“Our radio tower, computers, equipment and all communications were down,” Jones said. “The city dispatch was a half-block away, which is where we continued our operations. It was seamless.
“Before that, I was seriously looking at consolidation, but I realized we are an extension of each other.”
For now, the state is keeping an eye on northeast Indiana.
“I’m intrigued with the counties working together in training, purchasing and operating on a single network,” Ritter said.
“They are the only organized area in the state, and I’m watching them.”
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