EMA, 911 board discusses future structure of 911 center oversight
Mar. 2—OSKALOOSA — City and county officials are considering the merits of moving the Mahaska County E911 Center under either city or county supervision as they all look to find a way forward after several months of uncertainty.
The subject was brought up at the joint EMA/911 board meeting Tuesday night. The debate follows a January court decision that ruled it is illegal for the Mahaska County Emergency Management Commission to use its budget to fund the E911 center.
The idea of moving the center under city or county supervision also comes in the aftermath of the results from a joint city-county evaluation of EMA and E911 services in Mahaska County.
The results of the evaluation, presented to the city and county in February, found that overall, Mahaska County's 911 dispatch service level is "excellent." However, the final report suggested, among other things, that the position of deputy EMA coordinator, currently held by Josh Stevens, be eliminated.
The report also suggested some policy changes be made regarding call-answering protocol and payroll budgeting, along with more extensive oversight by the EMA Commission and 911 Board.
Mark Groenendyk, chair of the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors, was the first to raise the subject of changing the center's supervision at Tuesday night's meeting.
"I know my board has talked about moving the dispatchers, and the director and everybody under the sheriff's direction, or we can talk to [Oskaloosa City Manager] Amal [Eltahir] and [Oskaloosa City Councilman] Steve [Burnett] to see if they're interested, and then the chief of police or the fire chief, since they're the bigger user. So moving forward, it's probably going to be a different structure," Groenendyk said.
Until now, Mahaska County Emergency Management Coordinator Jamey Robinson has supervised the E911 center. Groenendyk's proposal would put the center under the supervision of either Mahaska County Sheriff Russ Van Renterghem or Oskaloosa Police Chief Ben Boeke.
The dispatchers would function as county employees if under the supervision of the sheriff's department, while Eltahir said the city would create a new public safety division for the dispatchers if they came under police department supervision.
According to county officials, the new structure of supervision of the E911 center would be an alternative to the entities entering into a 28E agreement. It would allow for clearer legal and budgeting lines to be drawn between city and county services.
Van Renterghem voiced some concerns he had about the arrangement, but wasn't entirely opposed to it.
"One of my concerns is, for example, just working through the budget here, I guarantee if it fell under my department, I would have to spend money out of this budget ... on IT. I don't have the IT skills that Jamey and Josh do," he said. "I'm not certified as a dispatcher ... Even when I say I could handle it, yeah, if the staffing was the same. If we had all the same dispatchers, if we had Josh 30 percent of the time, Jamey at 50 percent."
Burnett said that since the City of Oskaloosa statistically accounts for 82% of 911 calls handled by the center, the board should consider placing the center under the police chief's supervision.
"I think everyone would benefit if it fell under Ben's jurisdiction," Burnett said.
Boeke said he saw merits to both sides.
"I think there's valid points here," Boeke said. "It doesn't matter who they report to. We've got great dispatchers. I don't think anyone here wants to lose any of our dispatchers or any of our supervision team, but the funding has been an issue, as we know."
Boeke said he wasn't opposed to the change, but that the entities work well together under the current structure. His main priority, moving forward, is continuing to offer quality E911 services to the community.
"Jamey and I have worked well together. Josh, I think, is fantastic," Boeke said. "It really comes down to, we've got to figure out, legally, how to make this work the best for our communities ... Having more oversight over the 911 center, fine. But we work together well as it is, currently."
Channing Rucks can be reached at crucks@oskyherald.com.
