by
Jeff Jellison
Hamilton County Reporter
Funding for Hamilton County’s 9-1-1 Communication Center has been a topic discussed by community leaders for more than a year, according to Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt.
In the past, the larger cities of Noblesville, Carmel, Fishers and Westfield have shared that expense.
Now county leaders are calling upon the smaller communities of Arcadia, Atlanta, Sheridan, Cicero, White River Township and Wayne Township to help.
Last week County Commissioners issued a letter to those communities. The letter provided a deadline of Jan. 4 for an Interlocal Agreement that would require the smaller northern Hamilton County communities to pay their share of dispatch services.
Heirbrandt indicated that for 2019 the county was asking the smaller communities to pay only 10 percent of their respective fees and the county would pick up the remaining 90 percent.
Arcadia Town Board member Mitch Russell said that’s an additional $8,423 dollars out of this year’s budget.
The letter sent by the commissioners also referenced the possibility of the county paying 75 percent of the northern Hamilton County towns’ and townships’ dispatch service for the year 2020. Commissioners, in the letter, pointed out that decision would ultimately rest upon the Hamilton County Council. What was not stated in the letter was what happens after 2020. Russell said his town could eventually be billed nearly $84,000. That is approximately 64 percent of Arcadia’s total budget.
“Unfortunately, this is not a permanent fix and other options will need to be looked at to assure our public safety needs are properly funded in the future,” said Heirbrandt.
“The population of northern Hamilton County needs to take notice in what the commissioners are doing in charging for these services,” said Russell.
Arcadia did not meet the deadline set in the letter: “Our next Town Board meeting will be on Jan. 7. We will likely approve the 2019 Interlocal Agreement. We are behind the 8 ball with the possibility of losing our dispatch services because the commissioners did not give us enough time to research our options.”
The Town of Cicero on Thursday evening held an emergency meeting to meet the Commissioners’ deadline. Cicero Town Board members unanimously approved the Interlocal Agreement that will require they pay $13,413.82 this year.
Cicero Town Board President Chris Lutz told the Reporter, “Due to the inherent public safety impact of the subject matter of the agreement – the provision of 9-1-1 dispatch services – and the fact that the town did not receive the county’s letter requesting a decision by Friday, Jan. 4 until Wednesday, Jan. 2, the Town Council felt it was necessary to hold an emergency meeting to vote on whether to adopt the agreement.”
Lutz indicated the County sent the letter last week but, due to an error in the address that was utilized, it didn’t reach Cicero until Wednesday.
“I was pleased to hear that the 9-1-1 Interlocal Agreement was approved by the Town of Cicero. This is something we have been discussing for almost a year and a half with the northern Hamilton County towns and townships. I appreciate the continued communication with the local leaders and their passion to prioritize public safety for their community,” said Heirbrandt.
The Communication Center services seven police departments, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, and nine fire and EMS agencies. Last year the Center handled more than 400,000 phone calls and logged nearly 350,000 calls for service.
The 9-1-1 Communication Center currently has an advisory board comprised of representatives from Noblesville, Westfield, Carmel, Fishers and a Hamilton County Commissioner. Each are voting members. Commissioner Christine Altman said a sixth advisory seat without voting privileges is assigned to a person representing the smaller communities. Altman said the smaller communities have never filled the position.
The Advisory Board is an issue with Russell. “If we are going to pay for services like the four larger cities and the Sheriff’s Department, each of the smaller communities should have a voting member on the board.”
“With the inclusion of the towns and townships in the contract for service, the 9-1-1 Executive Board has discussed converting the advisory seat (one seat representing the smaller communities) to a voting seat, and I believe that that will be done upon the entities entering into the contract,” said Altman. “We believe that our Communications Center, systems and staff are one of the best in Indiana if not nationally. This unified system has proven to be efficient and we believe provides the best public safety for our residents and those visiting the County. The County has worked hard to ease the initial financial commitments for entities who choose to participate while the communities review appropriate methods to fund the service.”
White River Township has already signed the Interlocal Agreement; however, Sheridan, Atlanta and Jackson Township, like Arcadia, have yet to sign.
Commissioners have asked those communities to present a written plan on how dispatch services will be handled in their communities in the event no agreement is reached.
