Accountability concerns raised about E911 oversight

Mar. 6—OSKALOOSA — The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors heard from a member of the Mahaska County Sheriff's Department regarding the future structure of oversight for the Mahaska County E911 Center.

The board discussed the possibility of placing the E911 center under the jurisdiction of Oskaloosa Chief of Police Ben Boeke during their meeting. The topic was first raised by Mark Groenendyk, chair of the Mahaska County Supervisors, at the Feb. 28 joint EMA 911 board meeting.

"[Oskaloosa City Manager] Amal [Eltahir] has put a lot of thought into how it could work underneath the chief of police's direction," Groenendyk said.

Board members cited a statistic that attributes approximately 77% of the center's 911 calls to city business. City officials used the statistic at the EMA/911 board meeting on Feb. 28.

"Why not have the person who's really using the service run it the way it needs to be run?" said board member Steve Wanders.

Joe Goemaat, a deputy for the Mahaska County Sheriff's Department, spoke to the board during the public comment section of their regular meeting Monday morning. Goemaat told the board that he was sharing his own opinions and not those of Mahaska County Sheriff Russ Van Renterghem.

Goemaat told the supervisors he believed that the estimate of the City of Oskaloosa accounting for nearly 77% of the center's 911 calls was too generous due to how 911 calls are logged.

"The way that that report is compiled is by a grid system, so if a deputy goes out on a paper service within the city limits of Oskaloosa, which happens a lot, that counts as a call in the city. It's a sheriff's department service, and it's a county thing, but it goes as a call on the city," Goemaat said.

Goemaat told the board that when a sheriff's department deputy calls in to the E911 center for a procedural update on their location and happens to be within city limits, those calls are also considered "city calls."

Mahaska County Emergency Management Administrator Jamey Robinson says the sheriff's department often operates within Oskaloosa's city limits and could be contributing to that call volume.

"The sheriff's department has jurisdiction throughout the entire county," Robinson said in conversation with the Herald. "They make traffic stops in the City of Oskaloosa. They assist the city, and the city assists the county as well ...When they serve papers in the City of Oskaloosa, that generates a call for Oskaloosa."

Goemaat asked the supervisors to take a deeper look at the methodology used for logging calls as either city or county business.

"Perhaps a deeper study into the calls for service might be warranted, to see just which actions are being taken as a 911 service, or as a service to the public safety, or which calls are simply being compiled as a matter of policy or procedure. Letting dispatch know that we're here or things like that," he said. "Certainly, I think that the numbers would show that the county is involved for possibly quite a larger share than they're being given credit for in this discussion."

Goemaat shared his concerns that, for the sake of taxpayer accountability to Mahaska County's rural areas, he believes that an elected official, such as the sheriff, should oversee the E911 board, rather than one appointed by the City of Oskaloosa.

"I'm not saying anything against the capabilities of Chief Boeke or anybody in the city," Goemaat said. "What I'm saying is that the actions that happen inside and the responses that come out of our 911 center have a far reach. Sometimes they are to service residents in the far reaches of the county, and sometimes they even cross county borders and are interacting with other counties and other authorities. I see possible problems when that's led by an unelected and appointed city official versus an elected, accountable officer."

Goemaat believes that to fairly serve each Mahaska County community, the 911 center should be overseen by someone who represents and is accountable to the county at large.

"The rural areas should be under the leadership of an elected official, somebody that has accountability to those taxpayers that they're serving. If there's a problem, if the waters get muddied ... If decisions are made in the 911 center, or policies are changed or personnel are changed, there's a direct line of accountability when that's underneath an elected official, versus somebody that the citizens of New Sharon, like myself, or Leighton, or Fremont, have really no say," Goemaat said.

The board passed a motion to begin talking with city officials, including Boeke, about drawing up a plan to move forward with putting the E911 center under the Oskaloosa Police Department's jurisdiction.

In other news:

— The board approved the final plans for an approximately $1.15 million concrete overlay project on Old Highway 163, from southeast of Highway 163 to just west of the roundabout intersection with Orchard Avenue and Pella Avenue. The project stretches for 1.14 miles. The Mahaska County Secondary Roads Department is working with the City of Oskaloosa to share the cost for the city's portion, which is 9.5%.

Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.