City still pondering centralized dispatch

PORT CLINTON - It seems roughly every four years the topic of eliminating Port Clinton’s police dispatch pops up again as new administrations look for areas of the budget that may be open to cuts, according to local officials.

This time, the topic was initially raised near the end of May, when Mayor Hugh Wheeler asked for a meeting with Ottawa County commissioners and said he wanted to “explore” centralizing police dispatch.

Such a move would also cut up to five jobs and leave the police department with just two patrol officers to cover the city’s entire jurisdiction at any given time, said Port Clinton police Sgt. Bruce Szilagyi.

Additionally, if an arrest is made and a suspect is taken back to the station, both officers are required to be present, leaving no patrols left on the road.

Szilagyi said if another call were to come in, such as a fight or a domestic violence situation, another agency would have to be asked for mutual aid to handle it, resulting in much longer response times.

The department handles t 13,000 to 14,000 official calls for service annually.

An elimination of the dispatch division for the city of Port Clinton, based on 2016 wages, medical benefits and pension, would cut an estimated $196,908.43 for the cost of those employees.

However, that does not take into account how much the county would charge the city for taking on those additional calls, nor the cost to equip city police vehicles for compatibility with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, which likely would require mobile data terminals and the proper radios.

At this time, Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office does dispatch for other agencies, such as Catawba Island and Danbury, however, the additional calls from those jurisdictions is significantly lower, between 1,200 to 3,500 each.

The increase from taking Port Clinton’s calls is so vast by comparison, the sheriff’s office has not yet been able to provide any estimate for what the cost to the city would be if it were to be contracted out.

Sgt. Jim Lucas, director of communications at the sheriff’s office, previously said their dispatchers receive between 45,000 and 50,000 total calls per year already. In order to take the increased call volume if the contract were to happen, the sheriff’s office would have to hire at least an additional two or three dispatchers.

But the additional cost and exactly where it would be absorbed has yet to be determined, or even estimated.

At the May meeting with county commissioners, Wheeler said he would need the city to save between $175,000 and $180,000 with the contract through the county.

Wheeler said Thursday that the hypothetical savings he came up with was not earmarked for anything. He did not provide any further details about what the money was needed for.

Wheeler also added that the city would need to keep the same level of service or better to “seriously look at” centralizing dispatch.

At the mayor’s direction, both the city’s emergency services committee and finance committee have discussed the possibility of centralizing dispatch at length in multiple open public meetings. Due to the safety concerns, the emergency services committee recommended against it.

All of the finance committee members stressed that they are not yet able to make a determination without more information on the costs, and will continue to seek that information. Both committees inquired about the financial health of the city.

Port Clinton Auditor Cole Hatfield said because there are so many variables involved with evaluating financial health of the city’s general fund, he compares two similar points in time to have a better idea.

“The city is in much better financial position this time today than we were the same time last year,” Hatfield said. “We’re in much better shape.”

jstinchcom@gannett.com

419-680-4897

Twitter: @JonDBN