911 Budget Request Includes Additional Dispatchers

March 24--Requests in Owensboro-Daviess Central Dispatch's budget for the upcoming fiscal year include funding for four additional full-time dispatchers and money to install a new Computer Aided Dispatch system.

The budget request was prepared by dispatch center Director Paul Nave and has been approved by the 911 oversight board. The proposal will next go to Daviess Fiscal Court and the Owensboro City Commission, which share costs for dispatch center operations.

The dispatch center has 24 dispatchers currently, although a full roster is 25. If approved, the roster would increase to 29 full-time dispatchers.

"Four is adequate for right now," Nave said Thursday afternoon.

The city and county split the center's expenses based on where the calls originate. The city pays about 75 percent of the center's budget and the county pays 25 percent.

According to information provided to the 911 oversight board last week, in 2016, the dispatch center received 156,528 non-emergency calls, and 62,792 911 calls. In addition, dispatch made 100,242 non-emergency calls to towing companies, judges, the ambulance service and more.

The center often works with a bare minimum of dispatchers. For example, dispatch's first shift worked with a minimum number of dispatchers 71 percent of the time in 2016. The afternoon shift worked with a minimum number of dispatchers 50.68 percent of the time last year and night shift was at minimum staff 79.45 percent of the time, according to information provided to the dispatch oversight board.

"Staffing has been a significant concern over the last seven years, and over the last six years I've requested additional people," Nave said. The center has hired people to make up for people who have quit or retired, but its staffing level has not been increased since the combined 911 center began operation in 2010, he said.

"Working each shift at minimum staffing puts a tremendous burden on the telecommunicators in terms of stress burnout and exhaustion," Nave said. "The call volume has gone up with some agencies. Calls are a variable we have no control over. We have to process those calls."

While Nave said four additional dispatchers will be sufficient for the next fiscal year, more dispatchers will be necessary in the future to account for "future needs and future growth."

Requesting just four new positions now "is fiscally responsible," Nave said. "... But who knows what the call volume is going to be four to five years from now?"

Dispatchers start at $32,000 annually, a figure that does not include benefits.

Owensboro Police Department Chief Art Ealum, a member of the 911 oversight board, said it was agreed four new dispatch positions would be enough to provide adequate coverage for the fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Calls to dispatch for service have increased. For example, third shift calls were higher than usual during the winter months.

Call volume will have to be monitored for the next few years to see if other adjustments to dispatch are necessary, Ealum said. But for now, "I think four will adequately fill our need."

OPD officials "try to get the resources we actually need to do our job, and Central Dispatch should be treated the same way," he said.

Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain, another member of the 911 board, said, "I think (Nave) made a realistic request." Both OPD and the sheriff's department have manpower issues, Cain said.

"We certainly can't forget dispatch," Cain said. "As (law enforcement's) calls for service go up, so do their's."

The 911 board only recommends a budget to city and county government, Cain said. "Those decisions will be made at that level."

The other major item in the 911 center's budget is a request for funding for a new Computer Aided Dispatch system. City Finance Director Angela Hamric said the estimated cost of the whole system, including software, interfaces, data conversion and training, is $663,000, with part of that coming out of dispatch's reserve fund and the rest coming from the city and county. The cost is only an estimate because the purchase will have to go through the bidding process, she said.

Nave said the CAD system would be a one-time cost. The current CAD system is outdated and is no longer supported, he said.

"We've had the current system, with patches, since 2002 or 2003," Nave said. "Industry standard is two to five years to upgrade software and CAD infrastructure. We're to the point where we're struggling to maintain our current system."

James Mayse, 270-691-7303, jmayse@messenger-inquirer.com, Twitter: @JamesMayse

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