City, county catching up 911 center fees

Thursday, May 2, 2013

The city of Nevada has paid its portion of the cooperative agreement that funds the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch Center for January, February and March and the sheriff's office was in the process of paying the county's part, Tonya Davis, the center's acting director, told the board of directors during its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday.

The city and county have budgeted $200,000 each to fund the center for this year, but it is uncertain from where the other $150,000 needed to meet the center's projected budget will come.

Recent disagreements about how much each entity should pay have put them at odds. The county prefers a weighted fee structure based on the number and location of calls the center receives -- the structure that was in place prior to October 2012, when the fee structure was changed to a 50-50 split.

Davis also explained some of the progress she had made regarding the center's phone system. Consolidating several lines together will save approximately $352 a month by simply combining the bills for its seven lines into one bill.

Davis told City Manager J.D. Kehrman, Police Chief Graham Burnley and Sheriff Jason Mosher, all members of the center's board of directors, that consolidating the lines will reduce the cost from about $577 per month to $225 per month plus tax. She said the first bill was $269, so she called and was told the rate structure was incorrect and that the center would be credited for the difference.

Davis consolidated seven lines and kept the same functions currently used. Some of the lines were being used by the city and some by the county.

Davis said she hopes to have three lines -- the purpose of which she did not know -- disconnected. The red phone on the sheriff's office lobby went down, but Davis did not know it was connected to any of the three. The red phone was immediately fixed and there was no loss of service to the public.

Davis also told the board one of the work stations had shut down and would not come back on line. She said she thoroughly cleaned it and got it working. She also cleaned other computers and took measures to prevent future problems.

Davis told the board Emergency Management Director Dennis Kimrey had been working to get all of the rural fire departments' pagers on a new frequency. So far, Deerfield, Sheldon and Milo are using the new frequency and the others in the county are being updated.

The Global software the center uses as part of the computer assisted dispatch system had been updated with maps and "we now have address points for every structure in the city limits."

She also talked about creating a holiday schedule that split the difference between holidays of city employees and holidays of county employees. The new schedule gives center employees 11 holidays. That item needs board approval and was placed on the agenda for the next meeting as was a discussion of employee compensation time.

Davis told the board about a letter she had received from the Federal Communications Commission regarding a warning light on the radio tower being out. Even though the tower is not tall enough to require a light, board chairman Kehrman said he thought the light was part of an agreement with the city airport.

Mosher said the tower belongs to the county and money had been allocated to replace a repeater that was struck by lightning. The light issue will be addressed at the same time.

As part of the treasurer's report, Davis said she had received a bank card in her name but had not used it yet. She asked the board about giving approval for her to pay recurring monthly bills.

"These are bills that come every month that aren't going to be changing," she said.

The board did approve Davis to pay outstanding invoices and agreed to put the recurring invoice matter on next month's agenda.

On another matter, the board discussed at length a billing issue with a software company that maintains the software used at the center. Global had billed the center for $2,000 for services that had already been rendered. The amount was added to a regular payment and there has been a discrepancy ever since. Global finally agreed to deduct the $2,000.

Chief Deputy Shayne Simmons was involved in the discussion because he was involved in the software deal in the beginning. Simmons said the company backed off to keep the center's business. He also said the money the center spends on the maintenance is not out of line for that industry. He said he thought the price of the maintenance would be more than justified if even one major problem occurred with the system. He commended the company's technical support.

The board also discussed health insurance for dispatch center employees. The center pays $5,700 per month for employee health benefits.

The insurance provider has told the board that dental, vision, and workman's comp premiums are going up, but the premium for liability insurance is going down. Davis told the board the center had accrued $400 in a loss control fund that they could use to purchase things for the center or for reducing insurance payments.

Board members decided to adopt a new insurance plan that offers no reductions in benefits but has a higher deductible fee. They decided to use the money in the loss control fund to pay down the workman's compensation premiums. The board also discussed the future of the of the center and tabled that discussion for inclusion on next month's agenda.

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