April 21, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Due to increased call volume over the last 16 years, the DeKalb County Emergency Communications District (E-911) is looking to hire two more dispatchers with extra help from the City of Smithville and DeKalb County governments.
During a budget work session Monday night, 911 Director Brad Mullinax met with the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen at city hall to ask that the city increase its annual contribution to $160,000, up from $119,595.
Although he did not meet with them Tuesday night, Mullinax has made a similar request of the DeKalb County Budget Committee. Mullinax also wants the county to make repairs and improvements to the 911 center building on Mountain Street in Smithville with COVID-19 relief funds or American Rescue Plan Act money and to repave and seal the parking lot.
Mullinax first approached both the city and county to make an appeal for more dispatchers last year but his requests were not funded.
The DCECD (E-911) central dispatch center currently employs ten dispatchers, two per shift.
“The city and county each currently fund three dispatch positions and the Town of Alexandria funds us about $25,000 a year and then DeKalb County 911 picks up the other piece of that (those costs). We (911) are also responsible for all the operational costs, radio repairs, tower repairs, etc.,” said Mullinax.
The request is to add two more dispatchers ( funded one each by the city and county) in order to have three dispatchers per shift (four shifts).
“We currently staff two full time dispatchers on every shift and we have a swing shift person that works the busiest hours of the day but the time has come that we really need to look at adding an additional staff member on every shift. We request that one additional person from the city be budgeted in the upcoming fiscal year budget to where we can expand the staffing to have three people 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I have also renewed that same request to the county,” said Mullinax during his meeting with the Smithville Mayor and Aldermen Monday night.
In 2005, the DCECD was established to provide emergency and non-emergency communications services for the county and the cities of Smithville and Alexandria. It is governed by a seven member board currently made up of members Brandon Cox, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Scott, Josh Tramel, Billy Adcock, Chris Russell, and Jeff Barnes. When calls come in to the center, dispatchers alert city police and sheriff’s department officers, DeKalb EMS, as well as city and county fire departments to respond. Under the inter-local agreement, the cities and county make annual payments to support the DCECD operation. The district also receives funding from surcharges assessed to residential and business landline telephone subscribers for 911 services as authorized by the state. The DCECD is also responsible for assigning addresses to conform with state standards for 911 mapping.
As he had done last year, Mullinax informed the Mayor and Aldermen Monday night that the call volume within the last 16 years has almost doubled for the 911 center and more dispatchers are needed to better serve the public.
“We have reached the point where we have about outgrown ourselves,” said Mullinax.
“In 2006 we ran a total of 10,814 calls and in 2019 our annual call volume was 19,406. That is about a 90% increase in call volume over 15 years,” said Mullinax in his remarks last year.
“During that time agencies have also expanded as well. We now have a part time or a combination type fire department for the City of Smithville. The Smithville Police Department has doubled its officer coverage since 2005. DeKalb EMS has added an extra EMS unit. We have added two additional National Crime Information Center (NCIC) terminals at 911 for entering warrants, checking for wanted persons, entering protection orders, and everything else that keeps our community safe. The DeKalb County Fire Department has added two new fire stations and the Sheriff’s Department has about three times the number of deputies now than in 2005 plus they have added a school resource officer at every single school,” Mullinax said.
Another concern is that the Smithville and DeKalb County law enforcement agencies and Smithville Fire Department have to share the same radio frequency. Mullinax said the problem could be addressed by adding more dispatchers and making use of another available radio frequency to separate the departments on the air.
“This is a safety concern because for example if we were to have a major structure fire and then get a separate call at the same time from an officer for backup assistance then the officer’s call might get missed because they are on the same radio frequency. We have a radio system that belongs to the city and a frequency where we can actually move the city’s radio police and fire off of the county sheriff’s department frequency and give them more talking time but I don’t have the staff right now to monitor that other channel. We could with another employee,” said Mullinax
Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins and Smithville Fire Chief Charlie Parker say they too would like to see the city police and fire departments have their own radio frequency.
No action has yet been taken on Mullinax’s renewed budget requests.