CLARK COUNTY’S LONG-AWAITED 911 DISPATCH HUB OPENS
After numerous delays, $5 million project promises ‘streamlined response when life is on the line.’
The new Clark County 911 center, a project that broke ground in 2020 with an aim to connect emergency services throughout the county, went live on Tuesday.
“The community has long recognized the need for combined 911 dispatch services to improve safety and response times,” said Melanie Flax Wilt, Clark County commission president. “Every member of our community deserves access to timely, streamlined response when life is on the line.”
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is managing the $5 million, 7,000-square-foot dispatch center, office and training facility. The center is located on Home Road, in the former Clark County Department of Job and Family Services Children’s Home.
Supply chain issues caused delays in its opening, but the dispatch center had the majority of equipment already purchased and shipped in by 2019, according to Clark County Sheriff ’s Office Maj. Chris Clark.
Issues with Spectrum and phone services caused further delay, as did the county’s work to merge its network infrastructure with that of the center.
Motorola, the vendor for the center, in November began preparing certain Clark County employees as trainers for the dispatch center systems, so the trainers could then teach their own personnel, according to Clark.
Opening the dispatch center required many steps, aside from training dispatchers. This included installing computers, connecting equipment inside the center to police vehicles, ensuring connectivity between police and emergency vehicles and the center and more.
Flax Wilt said the project was completed through collaboration between county and city governments, law enforcement agencies, townships, villages and other community leaders.
In January 2021, the city of Springfield and Clark County merged their 911 dispatch departments.
“Until today, those centers were operating in separate locations,” the city shared in a social media post on Tuesday. “The new facility comes with new systems and software that staff has been training for extensively, and equipped to address any hiccups that may occur when new systems are implemented.”
Commissioners approved a tiered-pricing model for the center in fall of 2021, a first step toward negotiating with village and township agencies that will use the center.
Entities that have not contracted with the dispatch center as of this week are Tremont City, North Hampton and Donnelsville, according to Clark.
Many municipalities had their 2022 fees covered through federal relief. More than $50,000 of the county’s allotted American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars went toward covering dispatch center fees for South Charleston, Enon, Tremont City, Catawba, North Hampton, South Vienna and Donnelsville for their use of the county’s dispatch services last year.
Other COVID-19 relief funding covered dispatch center costs, including up to $125,000 for emergency medical dispatch (EMD) cards. EMD cards were installed in the county’s (CAD) system, which allowed dispatchers to implement pre-ems medical direction to callers, including COVID19 response plans.
A combined dispatch center for the county has been in talks for decades, and Clark County announced in 2017 that it would build a 911 dispatch center that will allow residents to text, send pictures and videos to dispatchers.
The center brings the county into accordance with Ohio’s Next Generation 911 requirement that calls for dispatch services to become more advanced.