Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
The consolidation of 911 emergency dispatch services in Lake County continues following passage of a state law requiring it in 2015, but a separate effort involving a Lake County 911 Emergency Dispatch Task Force is also moving forward.
The task force met to go over a study they commissioned which shows the current status of dispatch services in the county and possible cost savings from consolidation.
Titled the “Complexity of Current Environment” in the report summary, the study found that there are 52 municipalities, 41 law enforcement agencies, 30 fire/EMS agencies, 21 Emergency Telephone System Boards (ETSBs) and 20 communication centers or dispatching centers in Lake County.
The state law, Public Act 99-0006, required any municipality or city with a ETSB board and no dispatch center to consolidate with another system that had a dispatch center. The law did allow governments with more than 25,000 residents to keep their ETSB if they had a dispatch center. Those larger than 25,000 in population but without a dispatch center also had to consolidate.
David Dato, a retired Wauconda fire chief, is chairman of the county task force that is looking to consolidate as many 911 emergency dispatch centers as possible. The study showed how presently there are 20 such facilities with 233.5 full time equivalent (FTE) employees, but if there were nine centers, they would only need 228 FTEs and save about $400,000. If they fully consolidated into just two facilities with 192 FTEs, there could be savings of $2.3 million, he said.
“That’s in the first year,” Dato said. “But the biggest thing is that we have a lot of 911 call transfers (among departments). A person calls and they get center A, they need police or fire at their location and they could be transferred to center B or center C.”
Meanwhile, because of the state law, entities like Zion and Winthrop Harbor are considering consolidation.
With the county’s ETSB serving 17 communities and approximately 220,984 residents, local officials took the lead to form the task force. McHenry County has just one ETSB, and Will County, which is very similar to Lake County, also has just one, and six of its dispatch centers were consolidated into three.
