Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
County moves to consolidate its three 911 centers
FORT SMITH — Entities in Sebastian County are gearing up for a full, state-mandated consolidation of their 911 system by the beginning of 2025.
Danny Baker, Fort Smith police chief, brought his fellow members of the Sebastian County 911 Board up to speed on the plan to do this at the board’s meeting Wednesday. The plan involves bringing the county’s three 911 call centers together under one roof as required by the state Public Safety Act of 2019.
Call centers, also known as emergency communications centers, handle individual emergency service units, including police, fire and ambulance. The Arkansas Legislature passed the Public Safety Act a couple of years ago setting goals on reducing the number of call centers in the state.
Sebastian County has two primary call centers — the Sheriff’s Office and Fort Smith Police Department — as well as a secondary call center — Fort Smith Emergency Medical Services. The Sebastian County Emergency Operations Center in Fort Smith can also be used as a call center if any of those three fail.
Baker, who the Arkansas Association of Chiefs of Police appointed to the Arkansas 911 Board, said consolidating the county’s call centers will also improve the 911 system and allow it to be used more efficiently.
Sebastian County and Fort Smith submitted a plan to the Arkansas 911 Board on how they intended to carry out their consolidation by the state’s deadline of Jan. 1 , according to Baker. He, Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken, County Judge Steve Hotz, former County Judge David Hudson and Sheriff Hobe Runion were among those involved in crafting the plan, which the state requires to be fully implemented by Jan. 1, 2025.
“Part of the plan that we submitted, we set several deadlines on ourselves,” Baker said. “These are self-mandated deadlines, but I think we were all in agreement that, to meet the state-mandated deadline for full consolidation in 2025, we need to stick as close to this self-mandated timeline as possible.”
The plan’s first deadline is April 30, by which point both the Quorum Court and
Fort Smith directors are expected to adopt an interlocal agreement to establish the basis of the new consolidated facility — the River Valley Public Safety Communications Center. Baker said a legal team is in the process of drafting the agreement.
The agreement will require a nine-member board will be responsible for overseeing and approving all financial, human resources, facility, technology and other administrative matters for the center, which will be a separate legal entity from Sebastian County and Fort Smith, according to the plan. The board will be comprised of the county judge, sheriff, director of emergency management, Fort Smith city administrator, police chief and fire chief, along with three civilian appointees.
The board members are to be designated by May 31, the plan states. The board will work with the Quorum Court and city directors to determine and approve the bylaws and policies of the center by June 30, with a job description for the position of the center’s executive director to be finalized by the same time.
“I think that, in making sure that we get through this efficiently and effectively, I think it’s very important that we identify that lead person early on in the process and get them on board, get them involved in the building of the consolidated center,” Baker said.
The center board will approve the initial structure and a finalized three-year budget for the facility by July 31, the plan states. Planning for the consolidation will begin “in earnest” after the executive director, who will report directly to the board, is selected by Sept. 30.
The new center’s operations division will be comprised of three managers, seven shift supervisors and 53 public safety telecommunicators, according to the plan. This will make for a total of 63 full-time telecommunicators compared to the 51 combined in place prior to the consolidation.
The center will also have its executive director, an executive assistant and an administration division consisting of a manager and an administrative coordinator.
“A preliminary annual budget for the consolidated [center] is estimated to total $4.7 million, with a personnel budget of approximately $ 4.45 million and approximately $250,000 for operating,” the plan states. “As the consolidation effort progresses, this estimation will certainly change and will include capital costs association with facility, equipment and technology costs.”
Baker said a suitable location has to be found to house the consolidated center. He and Runion would like to see a standalone facility “in the spirit of true consolidation.”
“We’re on the same page,” Runion said. “We both think that’s the best direction to go.”
The new building will require at least 3,000 square feet to accommodate what the employees need, such as office space, and at least 1,000 square feet for the dispatch area, according to the report.
“Funding has been identified for this facility as well as a feasibility study to determine the needs of all the stakeholders and identify solutions for housing a consolidated [center],” the report states.
The Sebastian County 911 Board will have its next meeting March 22.