City Council tables talk over emergency dispatch duties

Washington’s City Council, during its meeting Monday, decided it wants to wait until the new city manager and a new county manager are in place before pursuing consideration of the county possibly taking over dispatching duties now performed by telecommunicators with the Washington Police Department.

Councilman Doug Mercer suggested the city write a letter to the county asking if the county would be willing to take on the dispatching duties and how much that would cost the city. Earlier this fiscal year, the county took over answering E-911 calls the city used to handle.

“What we really need to do at this point in time, in my opinion, is ask the county commissioners if they are willing to accept the responsibility for dispatch,” Mercer said. “That’s a question they will answer with a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No.’ If they are willing to accept that responsibility, then ask them to give us a cost for doing it. At that point in time, we can make a proper decision on whether we would like to proceed or not.”

Mercer said sending such a letter to the county and getting the county’s response doesn’t commit the city to anything.

Washington police Chief Mick Reed made his case for the city retaining dispatching duties for its emergency response personnel.

“I feel that it is absolutely imperative for this council to understand my position, with respect. The most valuable commodity in public safety is information,” Reed said. “This potential, in my opinion, needs to be looked at very closely. We have the best communications people anywhere around. I understand the 911 decision has been made. This has nothing to do with that. … I am concerned that this topic keeps staying there. … Asking me to farm out dispatch is no different than, and no less important, than asking me to farm out my detectives.”

Reed, citing personal experience with this situation in the past, said he believes that if dispatching duties are turned over to the county, “the level of service for the city of Washington for public safety will be reduced.”

“We lose solid dispatch capabilities. We lose call history capabilities,” Reed said.

The chief also said that if dispatching duties are turned over to the county, that means the police station won’t be open to the public 24 hours a day. That means a woman who is a victim of domestic abuse can’t go to the police station at 2 a.m. and seek refuge there, he noted.

“Without our communications people, our doors are going to be shut,” Reed said.

Mercer responded to Reed by asking, “Chief, do we lose anything whatsoever by writing the county commissioners a letter and saying, ‘Do you have the capability to take this over, and if your answer is yes, how much would you charge the city to do it?’ Do we lose anything at all?”

“Yes, sir. We do,” replied Reed.

“What do we lose?” Mercer asked.

“We lose these individuals knowing whether they have a job over the next 12 months. Forgive me, I don’t mean to be confrontational. What I’m suggesting is we are losing good people. … I can tell you because of the uncertainty that’s going on, and that has been going on, I am absolutely seriously concerned that we are going to lose some very good employees simply because they don’t know (what may happen),” Reed said.

“My concern is we are going to lose them if we write that letter because I’m afraid we’re going to lose good, trained communicators,” Reed added.

Councilman Gil Davis suggested any discussion between the city and county about dispatching duties be delayed until the new city manager and new county manager are in place.

“I just don’t think we need to make any type of decision until that happens, then we can discuss it and see where it stands,” Davis said.

“I say we don’t write a letter at all,” said Councilman Ed Moultrie.

Moultrie said he understands Reed’s concerns and the city should “leave the employees alone.”

Robbie Rose, Washington’s fire chief, supports Reed’s position on the issue.

“I want you guys to know that I wholeheartedly agree with everything he just said,” Rose told the council. “My guys are on the other ends of those radios as well.”

“It is a vital part, an asset is emergency communications,” Rose said. “It is the most valuable part of what we do. … It is our asset, right now. … We need to hold on to that part of that asset while we still have some control.”

“I guess I have a real big dog in this fight,” said Council member William Pitt, a telecommunicator for Beaufort County.

“When we say centralized communication center, does anybody know where Belhaven is? Do we include them in the mix? Can we offer them part of this? If we’re going to be truly centralized, that’s everybody. It’s like being in an inclusive community,” Pitt said. “We’ve got to get everybody on board č the entire county. If you talk on the radio, we want to talk with you.”

Pitt said he understands Mercer’s interest in being a very fiscally conservative person.

“However, I don’t put safety as something that we need to be financially conservative about,” Pitt said.