City, county discuss dispatch issues

A meeting was held Thursday morning in the office of Bill McGuire, Nevada city manager, between city and county officials attempting to formulate a plan for combining the communications needs of all emergency service providers in Vernon County into one dispatch center. McGuire, Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman, Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Bonnie McCord and Nevada Police Chief Gary Herstein were involved in the discussions.

The group has met before but while there is broad agreement about moving forward the devil is in the details.

"We're coming up on the budget and we need real figures to deal with," McGuire said.

In answer to a question from Herstein about when the figures were needed McGuire quipped, "Three weeks ago."

In looking at estimates from two providers of radio equipment there were questions about whether the two companies were thinking of the same project. One estimate was $296,000 and a second was for $108,000. The difference will be looked at closely to see if the two companies are estimating the same amount and type of equipment.

The group spoke about the need to have input from the Vernon County Ambulance District and Herstein made a phone call during the meeting to let director James McKenzie know about the next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday so he could attend and provide some thoughts.

Another question that was brought up was how to pay for the center. The consensus seemed to be that different groups using the communications center would pay based on the amount of calls handled for that group. The exact method of determining that hadn't been decided.

What ever the group comes up with the hope is that it will last, and that it will not balloon into something never intended.

"We need to be sure to limit it so that it doesn't grow out of control," McGuire said. "It has to be something that has longevity and integrity. We're all going to die but this has to live on after us."