Proposal moves city police dispatchers to county center

• It’s unclear how many of Newark’s eight dispatchers the county would hire, if council approves.
• Council’s service committee will hear the proposal Monday. Committee meetings begin at 5:30 p.m.

NEWARK – The Newark City Council will hear a proposal Monday night to eliminate the city’s police dispatcher positions, allowing employees to move to the Licking County 911 Center.

The Newark Division of Police employs eight dispatchers. It was not clear Thursday whether the county would hire all eight Newark dispatchers or if some would be unemployed.

Bill Cost, D-at large, chairman of council’s service committee, said the committee will hear a presentation about the city and county dispatch models.

“They will present information about the county 911 and city 911 so we can take a look at what our options are,” Cost said.

“If we’re going to keep our system, it’s going to take a considerable amount of money to keep it current.”

Laura Keene, Licking County Sheriff’s Office communications administrator, said the sheriff’s office plans to hire one person to reach 12 dispatchers, while the 911 Center has 20 dispatchers, some part-time, and plans to add a couple more.

The county and sheriff’s office dispatchers all work in the same facility on East Main Street. The county has four dispatchers on duty at a time, while the sheriff’s office will soon have three working at a time. Five seats in the new center are not filled.

Council President Don Ellington said he thought no employees would lose their jobs.

“We could combine the two forces and save us a pretty good chunk of change and probably be more efficient,” Ellington said.

The committee will not vote on the proposal Monday night, Ellington said. Committee actions also must be approved by the full council.

Cost said the idea of the city’s police dispatchers moving to county jobs has been discussed for some time.

“I’ve heard the county is going to be hiring,” Cost said. “We certainly hope (the county) would consider the people with the city now, if that’s the direction taken.”

The city dispatchers are members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The Licking County 911 Center dispatchers are represented by the Communication Workers of America.

The Teamsters represent the sheriff’s office, including the dispatchers.

kmallett@newarkadvocate.com

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Twitter: @kmallett1958