Eustis touts $248K savings

Proposed switch for police dispatching would result in windfall

Eustis police dispatcher Richard Morgan will lose his $38,000-a-year job if the city follows through with a plan to turn over its police dispatch operation to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

The move would save the city $248,000, but dispatchers facing termination hope city commissioners, who are set to vote on the proposal Sept. 5, can be persuaded to keep dispatching in house.

“I believe we give them a better service than the county can,” said Morgan 51, who has been a Eustis dispatcher for eight years.

He said seeking a job with the Sheriff ’s Office wouldn’t be an option because he’d have to take a $10,000 pay cut. He saw a job posting for a grocery stocking job that would pay almost as much — absent the stress that comes with answering 911 calls.

But officials in the city of 21,000 tout the benefits of farming out the police dispatching operation. If approved, the change would take effect Oct. 19. Eight full-time and two part-time positions would be eliminated.

“Even if we weren’t saving a quarter of a million dollars, this makes sense,” City Manager Ron Neibert said.

For starters, he said the savings could be used to boost police officer pay. The beginning salary for officers, $37,904, is lower than other neighboring agencies. Higher pay is needed to hire and retain officers, he said.

The change also would reduce the chance for miscommunication, according to Neibert. Occasionally, for example, only one dispatcher is on duty and if that person is on a call, other calls are forwarded to the county. This could lead to confusion during a crisis when multiple calls are pouring in, he said.

Another issue is with the red panic button on police radios that can be pressed to indicate an officer in distress.

“Our equipment doesn’t have the capability of receiving that panic,” Neibert said.

Instead, the alert goes to the Sheriff’s Office and then is relayed back to the city, creating a potential lag when seconds may be critical, he said.

The bottom line, he said, is that “it’s much more efficient to have that managed at one source and one point of command.”

Moreover, the move will negate the need to spend $128,000 to upgrade equipment and technology if the city were to continue handling its own dispatching, Neibert said.

He also noted that the move is in line with prior decisions — Eustis fire and emergency medical service calls have been dispatched through the county for more than 15 years. Residents can expect “the same quality service” with police dispatching, according to the city.

Eustis would pay the Sheriff’s Office $331,269 annually for dispatching services, Neibert said.

Five positions would be added to the Sheriff ’s Office dispatching staff, currently made up of 43 full-time and six part-time employees, sheriff ’s officials said.

In addition to potential new positions through a contract with Eustis, the Sheriff’s Office has 21 vacancies, but that could go down as the agency has six conditional offers to fill positions, officials said.

The Sheriff’s Office currently handles police dispatching for eight of Lake’s 14 cities: Astatula, Clermont, Fruitland Park, Howey-in-the-Hills, Lady Lake, Mascotte, Tavares and Umatilla.

Representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and the Leesburg Police Department have spoken with Eustis employees about job opportunities. Dispatchers were told they’d come in on the ground floor, $13.57 an hour, with the Sheriff ’s Office regardless of experience, Morgan said. One of his co-workers has 33 years on the job.

Eustis dispatchers’ pay ranges from $30,455 to $44,268, Neibert said.

Morgan, who makes $18.90 an hour with Eustis, said he’ll consider other employment options if the proposed change is approved. Affected Eustis employees also will be considered for other city positions.

But Morgan said hometown dispatchers should be retained because of their detailed knowledge of the city. For example, occasionally they field calls from people who don’t know their exact location but can relay landmarks that dispatchers are familiar with, he said.

Dispatcher Julie Koller, who has two decades of dispatching experience, agreed with that assessment.

“I think it’s 100 times better for the residents,” the 44-year-old mother of four said.

Opposition to the switch has spawned a Facebook page, “Save Eustis Dispatch,” which asserts Eustis would be “losing a very valuable asset that the city currently has.”

If the plan goes through, employees would receive 240 hours of severance pay and paid medical insurance through Dec. 31 if they don’t have other insurance.

“I’ll be honest, we think it’s probably a done deal,” Koller said. “But we are gonna fight.”