LC 911

The future of 9-1-1 service in Lincoln City has hit a rough patch with Willamette Valley Communications Center (WVCC) based in Salem. But both sides continue to exchange ideas and negotiate how 9-1-1 service can continue in Lincoln City at a far lower cost than their current local dispatch center.

Lincoln City officials recently offered to join WVCC as long as WVCC maintained a “live” 9-1-1 center “somewhere” in Lincoln County, Lincoln City preferably, of course. But the proposal was turned down by the WVCC Board saying that the prime directive is to consolidate services to cut costs and improve efficiencies in dispatching for the whole area. The board pointed to the widespread trend of 9-1-1 consolidations across the country including Oregon. Oregon State Police have only two dispatch centers for the entire state.

WVCC Director Mark Bucholz says what his board may be interested in talking about is having a “back-up” 9-1-1 center somewhere in Lincoln County that would not be manned unless connections to the valley were somehow interrupted, as in a very major storm or an earthquake. Buchholz said such a back-up system could be activated on the coast that could take over local 9-1-1 services until connections to the valley were restored. Bucholz said WVCC already has such a location in the Salem metro.

Questioned about the status of negotiations between Lincoln City and WVCC, City Manager David Hawker said negotiations with WVCC are still open and all options are still on the table. Police Chief Steven Bechard says Lincoln City has had a long and trusted working relationship with WVCC in that they provide “in patrol car” computer information services and police and criminal records management for the city via computer line to WVCC.

Hawker and Bechard recently informed their city council that the city could save upwards of $300,000 a year if they could find a way to join WVCC as Newport, the county and many local fire districts have already done. Hawker has said often in the past that Lincoln City needs to cut costs and enhance revenues to keep the city moving forward. 9-1-1 savings and annexing Roads End have been characterized as part of that strategy. The city is also in the middle of designing a new police station. They’d like to know whether to include a back-up or live 9-1-1 dispatch area in those plans.

To be continued…

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Correction: Number of dispatch centers in Oregon, 48.

After what can only be described as a tough and, for some, gut-wrenching process, Lincoln County’s biggest 9-1-1 emergency system is being taken over by the Willamette Valley Communications Center. The primary reasons that the county, Newport and most fire district officials gave their final approval Wednesday are lower costs and more up to date technology. Also hanging over their heads is what appears to be an unstoppable trend at the state level to reduce the number of individual dispatch centers around the state from 48 down to nine. It’s a well established trend across the country.

Lincom users were facing big costs for replacing equipment as well as for the ever rising cost of labor. It was also acknowledged that Lincom users can make their tax dollars go a lot farther if they join a larger organization like WVCC which has levels of technology and labor efficiency that Lincom could never hope to have due Lincoln County’s low population and therefore lower revenue base. As of July 1st, WVCC will take over Lincom and begin the technological upgrade that will offer local police, fire and ambulance services a level of performance unseen on the coast.

To be fair, Lincom workers are dedicated, hard working call-takers and dispatchers. But with a limited level of equipment and a lack of depth in human resources, their jobs were made even more difficult to carry out. Any one who owns a police scanner “gets it” about how hard ANY dispatcher works and of the sometimes unbelievable pressures they have to operate under.

Lincom board member Ray Woodruff, who helped lead the push to have WVCC take over Lincom, said all Lincom workers have signed up to become WVCC workers effective July 1st. Nobody is losing their job. Woodruff added that come July 1st, 9-1-1 dispatching will continue at its current location until December, which, by then, all the transitional electronics will be in place. After that all former Lincom workers will be expected to move to the Salem..

Again, the bottom line is savings to the taxpayers while getting much higher dispatching performance. Limited government budgets means consolidating how emergency services are organized and delivered. Economies of scale absolutely rule the discussion. Small dispatch centers, which must pay prevailing wages and buy their own equipment, with fewer taxpayers supporting them, are increasingly at a service level disadvantage. The state certainly knows that. State officials long ago mandated that Oregon State Police operations be dispatched out of only TWO dispatch centers – for the whole state. State lawmakers are expected to mandate that Oregon’s 48 9-1-1 centers be shrunk down to NINE. It’s all prescribed in a big consultant’s report that the state legislature will be talking about during the next session.

While the big change-over plays out between July 1st and December, Toledo and Lincoln City, which operate their own, even smaller, dispatch centers are expected to monitor these developments very closely. According to Woodruff and other Lincom board members, both cities could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in dispatch costs if they too joined WVCC. Lincoln City has long agreed with consolidation but not before certain upgrades are made to the system. Those upgrades are now nearly in place. As of late Toledo has been reluctant to consider consolidating with WVCC, sticking to a city philosophy that the town is pretty much self-sufficient and they like the fact that dispatchers allows the police department to be open (technically) if someone in trouble bangs on the front door in need of help. The dispatcher inside can provide that help. However, in this day and age when just about everybody has a cell phone, or access to one, it’s no longer necessary to run downtown to the police station for assistance.

Labor costs, constant upgrades for technology and tighter budgets; all point to massive consolidation of 9-1-1 services nationwide and locally. When Oregon lawmakers finish their review of an analysis produced by a nationally ranked firm on such matters, they are expected to re-direct state subsidies away from all those hundreds of 9-1-1 centers around the state and into a regional system with just nine 9-1-1 centers. WVCC will likely be one of the nine. And in so doing it will make local 9-1-1 systems largely unaffordable for the smaller towns they now operate in.

As for the loss of “local knowledge” by dispatchers who will be moving to Salem, anyone who listens to police and fire scanners for a living will tell you that it’s the police officers, sheriff’s deputies and fire fighters in the field that know the terrain. They drive it everyday. When you give emergency responders the address or GPS location of a 9-1-1 call, they know exactly where they are going and the fastest way to get there. With the level of technology being offered by WVCC, it’ll get even better. WVCC will enable our emergency responders to be tracked and managed to such a high level of accuracy that those in the field won’t have to ask each other where the other is in order to figure things out. The dispatcher will simply look at a screen, and it’s all there. WVCC dispatchers can literally watch first responders move across the maps on their screens.

It’s a brave new world. And it’s finally arriving in Lincoln County. And best of all, our government leaders say we can afford it and that the state’s march toward 9-1-1 consolidation would have made us do it eventually, anyway.

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Correction: Yachats Fire District is also joining WVCC by a recent vote of their board. It’s Siletz Fire that’s not quite on board yet or may delay joining in.

Newport Police Chief Mark Miranda and Fire Chief Phil Paige told the Newport City Council Monday night that the transition is going smoothly as Lincoln County’s 9-1-1 dispatching service, LINCOM, will end July 1st, and the Salem dispatch center takes over.

The Salem center, called Willamette Valley Communications Center (WVCC), will hire any LINCOM employee who can move to the valley and join their team which already serves 17 emergency agencies in the North Willamette Valley. Chief Miranda outlined the financials to the council reporting that Newport’s cost for 9-1-1 coverage will rise a little bit in 2012-13, but will be far less than what was being proposed by LINCOM which needs a lot of money to upgrade their dispatching system. “In the long run,” Miranda said, “Newport will save substantially over the years while enjoying superior dispatching performance, due mainly to higher quality and ever upgrading dispatching equipment, both at the WVCC 9-1-1 center and in the emergency services vehicles they dispatch. Miranda also said that having a bigger dispatching staff means greater flexibility that can track the ebb and flow of emergency calls every day and night of the year.

It remains unclear whether Lincoln City and Toledo will eventually make the move themselves to WVCC. However, both have expressed an interest in looking into it. Toledo and Lincoln City pay hundreds of thousands of dollar a year to have their own, local 9-1-1 centers. However, they, like all other 9-1-1 centers, operate on state pass-through money that is forecasted to be withdrawn from local communities as the state directs those funds to create nine new regional 9-1-1 centers to serve the whole state.

Thus far, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Newport Police and all fire protection districts have signed up to join WVCC, except for North Lincoln Fire Rescue, Lincoln City Police, Toledo Police and Fire and Siletz. Siletz Fire Chief Dave Lapof says they have a board meeting next week that may indicate whether it’ll be WVCC or perhaps joining the Toledo dispatch center. Lincoln City has always maintained an interest in a regional system as long as there is a back up system connecting the city to a regional dispatch center. A powerful Pacific storm slammed ashore some years back that cut Lincoln City off from the rest of the world and it’s made the town’s commitment to its own 9-1-1 center tough to break. However, many argue that when the inevitable “big one” hits, the earthquake will be powerful enough to knock out power, wire and fiber optic linkages between the coast and the valley so few if any communities here or there will have regular 9-1-1 service. Maintaining the capacity to call for help will depend on how good of an emergency services back up system is ready to move into place to get the job done, with considerable cooperation with local ham radio operators.

Again, the switch over from LINCOM to WVCC is expected to occur July 1st.

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Willamette Valley Communications Center, Salem

Five out of six Lincoln County fire agencies that are dispatched by Lincom 9-1-1 in Newport have released their position paper on why they favor dispatch services being switched to a regional dispatch center in Salem that already dispatches for 17 law enforcement and fire district agencies in the Willamette Valley, and which provide mobile computer services for Toledo and Lincoln City Police. Their position paper is entitled “Fire Services Stand with Law Enforcement Agencies on 9-1-1 Move.”

Here’s what they want the public to know:

Public discussion continues about the concept of transferring public safety dispatch services from LinCom, our local agency, to Willamette Valley Communications Center (WVCC) in Salem, an agency that serves 17 police, fire, and ambulance agencies in Polk and Marion Counties. WVCC, with 20 years experience and with economies of scale is able to offer very professional service and up-to-date technology, increasingly important for the safety of emergency providers and the citizens they serve.

LinCom, in contrast, is underfunded and understaffed, with outdated technology and equipment in danger of failing. Despite common belief, LinCom is not a county agency, but is an organization that is owned equally by the 12 police, fire, and ambulance agencies (users), including the county, with each member having one vote. Costs of operations were increasing much faster than user members’ tax revenues until 2008, when they could no longer afford ever-larger LinCom assessments. Even while revenues were increasing, LinCom could not staff up to recommended levels and had little funds for needed equipment and technology. When agency contributions shrank, these deficiencies became even greater.

As Polk County agencies came to understand, we, too, realize that we do not have the financial ability to provide the needed level of professional 9-1-1 and dispatch services our citizens need and deserve—short of asking you to vote for new taxes at a cost 2 to 3 times what you are now paying for 9-1-1 dispatching services! We, as your fire and emergency first responders, are not willing to impose that kind of added tax burden, especially in this economy, and also when WVCC is well able to provide continuing excellent service for about the same or less than we now pay to LinCom.

This decision is being carefully and thoughtfully considered, especially as we are very mindful of the hardship for LinCom’s employees and their families. However, if the decision is made to move, WVCC will be offering jobs to all our employees, honoring their benefit levels and seniority, although some may not be able to take advantage of this generous offer. Losing public jobs, like the county’s laying off more than 30 a couple years ago and the school district’s seemingly yearly cuts with each year’s shrinking state budget, is always painful but inevitable given decreasing revenues and growing public demand for more efficient ways of providing needed services.

We stand with our law enforcement user members in advocating the continued process of merging our 9-1-1 and dispatch services into those of WVCC, just as many years ago we merged our individual services by forming LinCom—and in line with the state of Oregon’s intention to reduce the number of dispatch centers from 49 to about 9 to better serve citizens with limited dollars available.

Joshua L. Williams
Fire Chief
Depoe Bay Fire District

Phil Paige
Fire Chief
Newport Fire Department

Derek Clawson
Fire Chief
Central Oregon Coast Fire (Waldport area)

Tracy Shaw
Fire Chief
Seal Rock Fire District

Dave Lapof
Fire Chief
Siletz Fire District

Editor’s Note: A name missing from the list at the bottom of the letter is Yachats Fire Chief Frankie Petrick. Chief Petrick told News Lincoln County that she would like to see more public outreach on the issue so more residents of the county could weigh in on the debate. She said she favors a dispatch system closer to home, adding that if a disaster hit both the valley and the coast, she wonders whether the coast would get the same level of service as the valley. She also said she would like to further explore creating a special county-wide taxing district to support LinCom 9-1-1 and to make sure all the details are clearly presented to the public.

In the fire chief’s position paper, her fellow chief’s said they are opposed to such a taxing district in that it would mean asking for more money to achieve a level of service that could never compare to the services offered by WVCC for the same or less money being spent today. As for the level of service in a double-whammy coast-and-valley disaster, such as a big earthquake, fire and police officials say most, if not all 9-1-1 services would be knocked off the air anyway. They say police, fire and ambulance communications would be strictly local through the use of hilltop mobile repeaters and ham radio operators helping to keep everyone in touch with emergency services.

As for disasters of a lower magnitude striking both the valley and coast at the same time, WVCC officials told News Lincoln County that they have a large pool of dispatchers that can be called in on a moment’s notice to handle substantially higher call volumes, thereby guaranteeing consistent levels of service to all areas.

At the moment, WVCC officials are still formulating a contract for services which they continue to claim would be at the same cost level, or even lower, than what LinCom is costing its member agencies today. WVCC says they will offer all LinCom employees a job, but of course that entails moving to the Salem area, something not all LinCom workers are able to do. WVCC is also tabulating retirement costs, vacation pay, sick leave and transitional expenses that are part of the 9-1-1 switch.

The LinCom Board of Directors, which is made up of member agencies (it is not an arm of county government), are expecting something close to an iron-clad proposal from WVCC within thirty days. They say if they decide to contract with WVCC, they would like to make it official the first of July.

The proposal does not include Lincoln City or Toledo. Both have their own 9-1-1 dispatch centers. However, Lincoln City has been very interested in unloading the huge costs of their 9-1-1 services but have been waiting for something worthwhile to sign up for. Lincoln City already contracts with WVCC to run their police car and fire engine computer dispatch systems while retaining “live” dispatch announcing from Lincoln City. As police and fire personnel read their computer screens, they hear the same information being given over the radio. The same situation exists in Toledo for their police and fire services; computer aided dispatch through WVCC but “live” local dispatchers. Meanwhile, Toledo has steadfastly declined to participate in a county-wide dispatch service arrangement. City Manager Michelle Amberg told News Lincoln County that they prefer to have their own dispatchers that are in the police station 24/7 so that when people need help, and they don’t have a phone or other means to communicate, they can always run down to the police department and receive assistance immediately. Additionally, Toledo 9-1-1 dispatchers provide other support services for both their police and fire departments.

In the broader scope of things, local 9-1-1 services are partially funded with state revenues that are collected from everyone’s telephone bill, both landline and cellphone, revenues that may not be available to local 9-1-1 dispatch centers in the near future. Top state emergency services officials say Oregon’s 49 individual 9-1-1 centers are a costly duplication of services, whose operations are often not as good as they could be under a better funded consolidated system. Based on that viewpoint, they are proposing to create 9 regional 9-1-1 service centers to handle all emergency calls within Oregon. They point to the Oregon State Police dispatch system that handles the entire state with just two dispatch centers; one in Salem, the other in Medford.

LinCom’s Board of Directors say they plan to conduct public meetings to explain all this in hopefully simple terms that everyone can grasp. They intend to discuss advances in technology and its applications for tracking police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles that is “up-to-the second” using satellites. Each police car, fire truck and ambulance will have highly detailed satellite images of their county pre-loaded into their vehicle computers, so knowing the lay of the land will also be very clear to emergency responders, which adds to what they already know by having lived in their communities a long time anyway.

The public meetings on all this are going to be worth attending. As soon as they are scheduled, you’ll see the information here on News Lincoln County.

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