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Posts Tagged Oak Lawn Village Manager Larry Deetjen

Oak Lawn outsourcing of emergency dispatch – update

Mar 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | 7 Comments

The Village of Oak Lawn outsourced their emergency dispatch center recently.  CBS Chicago has an article which mentions complaints that have been brought to the village board.

During this week’s meeting of the Oak Lawn Village Board, trustee Bob Streit (3rd) brought up concerns about the emergency call center, citing a letter from Evergreen Park regarding concerns over “a series of incidents in the last several weeks” involving alleged poor service.

Oak Lawn’s emergency dispatchers handle calls for several communities, including Evergreen Park. The center was privatized this year in a cost-cutting move and many of the dispatchers lost their jobs. A letter from Evergreen Park attorney Michael Cainkar to dispatch center director Kathy Hansen expressed concern over responses to calls, including one about a man with a gun, information that allegedly was not included in what a dispatcher told police officers.

In the Feb. 24 letter, Cainkar said the “recent performance poses a direct threat to both public and officer safety.” Streit agreed, saying: “There’s more. This is the tip of the iceberg.”

During the board meeting, Streit said he and other board members were not told about the complaints by Village Manager Larry Deetjen and Mayor Sandra Bury. “This board is supposed to set policy, but it’s impossible to set policy when complaints and issues are hidden from the board. There is no excuse, especially when it comes to the safety of the public and our residents,” Streit said during the meeting.

Evergreen Park Mayor Jim Sexton, however, said Thursday that he’s pleased with the new system and is certain problems will be worked out. “It’s not a big deal at this point,” Sexton said Thursday.

“Let me assure you that the men and women of our emergency dispatch center and our contractor, Norcomm, have nothing but the safety of this community at heart,” Deetjen said during the board meeting. “We handle over 100,000 calls a year (for several communities including Oak Lawn and Evergreen Park). We do an outstanding job, but we’re not perfect. We weren’t perfect before the change.” In previous years, issues were handled within the rules of a labor contract with workers in the 911 center “and it was never publicly discussed,” he said.

“Those are the facts because men and women are human. Have you ever listened to an emergency call? Often, words aren’t clear,” Deetjen said, adding “don’t let anyone up here scare or misinform you.” “If there were an increase in instances, if there were a change in patterns, we don’t see that,” Bury said. “To imply there were no mistakes with the former system … you’re seeing it made into something political and that’s really a shame.

thanks Dan

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Fatal house fire in Oak Lawn

Feb 26

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | Comments off

For the second time this month, there were multiple fatalities from an Oak Lawn house fire. MyFoxChicago.com has this report:

The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force helped local police conduct a criminal investigation Wednesday. Three people are dead after a house fire in Oak Lawn. Police said two bodies were found in the home in the 9800 block of 51st Avenue. A source familiar with the investigation reports another man fatally shot himself in a car in the garage as firefighters responded to the call.

The source said the fire was being investigated as arson. The source also said the individual inside the car was alive with the engine running when “an alert firefighter” arrived to investigate the blaze, but then shot himself moments later.

The fire began a few minutes after 5 a.m., according to Oak Lawn police Division Chief Michael Kaufmann. The victims were not discovered until later. Kaufmann did not reveal the identities, genders or ages of the deceased.

The fire was out as of 9 a.m., though firefighters were still cleaning up hot spots as of 10 a.m. Police officers, evidence technicians and vehicles from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office were also on scene.

Detectives said there is likely more evidence inside the home, but they will have some challenges getting to it. The roof and floor of the home collapsed in the blaze. Investigators sifted through the debris late Wednesday morning, wading through a basement filled with water.

“All indications and information being provided to the Oak Lawn Police Department would seem to point to an intentional setting and criminal conduct resulting in the death of at least two individuals,” Oak Lawn village manager Larry Deetjen said.

Fire officials said they do not know the cause of the blaze as of noon on Wednesday.

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Oak Lawn to outsource emergency dispatch services

Jan 23

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

CBS Chicago has an article about the decision by Oak Lawn to outsource their emergency dispatch services:

Oak Lawn’s 911 center is going private this week, the Southtown Star is reporting.

Village manager Larry Deetjen announced at last week’s village board meeting that the center will be run by a private company as of Wednesday, now that a tentative agreement has been reached between the village and the union for the dispatchers.

“In essence, the agreement reached will settle any and all disputes and claims between the parties,” Deetjen said, referring to two unfair labor practice charges filed by Chapter 351 of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police against the village.

“We had an excellent mediator from the Illinois Labor Relations Board who listened to the facts. That’s what it ought to be, labor and management talking to each other,” Deetjen said, adding that he could not discuss details of the agreement until after Chapter 351’s board approves the settlement.

The details are expected to be disclosed at the Jan. 28 village board meeting, according to the village.

During last week’s board meeting, Trustee Bob Streit (3rd) expressed concern about how many of the 20 dispatchers will be retained by Norcomm Public Safety Communications. Deetjen said some would stay on but he did not know exactly how many. “Some will continue on as employees of Norcomm, and others will accept positions in the public or private sector at their own choice,” Deetjen said. “It will still remain a regional emergency call center.”

Besides Oak Lawn, the 911 center handles police calls for Bridgeview, Burbank and Evergreen Park and fire calls for Bedford Park and the Central Stickney Fire Protection District.

thanks Dan

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Village of Oak Lawn considers outsourcing dispatching (more)

Nov 22

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | Comments off

More on the previous post about the Village of Oak Lawn’s Emergency Communications Center from a very lengthy article in the Oak Lawn Leaf.

It appears the Village of Oak Lawn will move to outsource the 911 Emergency Dispatchers to a private company on Tuesday November 26th, despite pleas by the emergency operator’s union, the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, to honor its existing contract. Oak Lawn’s Village Manager Larry Deetjen has recommended that the Village outsource the 911 emergency dispatchers to Norcomm Public Safety Communications, based in Leyden Township.   The village’s four supervisors in the department would be retained by the company.  The 20 union dispatchers would be terminated, but allowed to apply for their positions at a reduced salary.  They would also lose their pensions in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

According to Ronald Cicinelli, the attorney representing the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, the Village of Oak Lawn contacted the union only 38 days after agreeing to the 2012 contract and threatened to outsource the jobs unless the union agreed to concessions because of a “financial crisis”.

Cicinelli, in response to inquiries from the Oak Lawn Leaf, said that the Village of Oak Lawn Attorneys contacted the union “saying, in essence, that the village would have to outsource dispatching services if the union did not agree to help with the dire financial situation that it had not disclosed until approving the aforementioned labor contract.”

According to Cicinelli, the union officials and village officials met and the village attached a dollar amount to the financial crisis that the village claimed totaled $1.l million dollars.  “The telecommunicators (union members) were asked to submit concessions that total $369,000.00 to help alleviate the crisis, with the remainder of the shortage being rectified by increasing the costs to the towns served by the center,” said Cicinelli…. the Village of Oak Lawn reportedly sent the other municipalities it serves through the 911 operating system, invoices with the increased costs.

The negotiations broke down further according to the union when the Village informed the union that the entire 3.8 million dollar budget would be spent by the end of July.  Cicinelli claimed that “it is obvious that cost overruns can be attributed, in part, to overtime created by supervisory personnel who no longer count as working dispatchers and the failure to replace three dispatchers who either retired or resigned.” According to Violetto’s letter, the Village’s Emergency Communications Director, Kathy Hansen requested in the last contract that the three dispatchers be called team leaders and not be counted in the manpower numbers to operate the room.  Violetto claims that the three team leaders are now administrative help to Hansen and questioned the need for three people to provide administrative help to the director.  The savings in returning the three supervisors to the manpower count would save the village $152,232.20 a year according to the union. Hansen stated department overtime through August 2013 stood at $124,855.  The union has claimed that the overtime is attributed in part to overtime created by the new supervisory personnel and the failure of the village to replace three open dispatcher positions.

At the November 6, 2013 budget meeting, Oak Lawn’s emergency communications director Kathy Hansen said that due to revenue lost from state-regulated phone surcharges as users switch to cell phones, the department is losing revenue while expenses continue to rise. Industry experts estimate that the total phones used in any municipality are split with 70% cell phone use and 30% landline use.

Currently, the telecommunications tax is only assessed on landlines.  The village received over one million dollars in the telecommunications tax last year.  If the tax is extended by the federal government as expected in the summer, the revenue to the village would exceed $2.3 million dollars thereby solving the problem. By outsourcing to Norcomm, the village claims it would save $446,000 a year for the next two years.


thanks Dan

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