911 Director Asks City for More Help in Funding New Dispatcher Position

May 14, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

Due to increased call volume over the last 15 years, the DeKalb County Emergency Communications District (E-911) is looking to hire more dispatchers and is seeking extra help from the City of Smithville and DeKalb County governments.

During a budget work session Tuesday 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 $164,000, up from $119,000. A $45,000 increase.

Mullinax is expected to make a similar request of the county.

In 2005, the DCECD (E-911) central dispatch center 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 and naming roads when necessary to conform with state standards for 911 mapping.

The DCECD currently employs nine dispatchers, two per shift. Plans are to add to four more dispatchers in order to have three per shift. In order to do that the city and county would need to each increase their contribution while the DCECD would fund the rest.

Mullinax said call volume within the last 15 years has almost doubled and more dispatchers would better serve the public.

“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. “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 continued.

“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”.

“I think there is a significant need for this because numerous times there have been delays in getting warrant checks for officers over the radio creating a pause and that could be dangerous for our police officers making them wait,” said Mullinax.

While the city and county are being asked to up the ante, Mullinax said DCECD has and will continue to do its part.

“We are trying to put three dispatchers on every single shift. We (DCECD) have already funded one of those. The plan is for the city to pick up one, for the county to pick up one, and with additional revenue we’re hoping to get from the state we will be able to fund that additional one. That will give us a total of four extra personnel we would need in order to staff three people on every shift,” Mullinax said.

The City of Alexandria’s annual contribution to the DCECD was increased last year to $27,000.

More financial help may also be on the way to the DCECD thanks to action taken by the Tennessee General Assembly which has authorized an increase in landline surcharges for 911 services.

“We went to bat with the Tennessee Emergency Number Association (TENA) and got legislation passed to increase the 911 surcharge from the state from $1.16 to $1.50. That is a 34 cent increase per 911 line even though that is not equally distributed among all districts. Currently we really don’t know what that number is going to be for us because there is other pending legislation the state has not yet acted on to change the revenue formula for each county. One legislation some of the counties are sponsoring would totally distribute the money based on population. That is great if you live in Shelby, Davidson, Knox, or Hamilton counties. They would see a pretty good increase in their revenue. If they do that we would actually lose revenue because right now the funding mechanism is on a base amount plus a population percentage figured on the number of people living in our county. Of course the 2020 census will play into that some too. But even if that is approved with more revenue for us we will not be able to undertake this full funding for extra dispatchers ourselves,” added Mullinax.

Although the DCECD is financially sound, Mullinax said it is an expensive system to operate .

“We do have a good reserve fund but our operating costs as far as equipment is very expensive. 911 equipment, radio equipment, are astronomically priced and the price keeps going up. We are seeing a lot of shift in technology right now to cloud based type services which increases the maintenance fees and yearly subscription fees so all of that is going up on us exponentially while our operating revenue has really not kept pace with that. We do have a good rainy day fund and we could keep functioning the way we are but our budget is like a water/sewer utility district. We have to present a budget to the state that is in the black,” said Mullinax.

Meanwhile Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins, Public Works Director Kevin Robinson, and Fire Chief Charlie Parker made budget requests for the 2020-21 year during Tuesday night’s work session with the mayor and aldermen.

Chief Collins is asking the city to budget funds for the purchase of two Dodge Charger patrol cars and he provided options for buying new or pre-owned (less than 50,000 miles) cars. 2017 models are available for $17,950 each and 2018 vehicles may be bought for $19,500 each plus another $7,000 for equipping and the striping the cars to make them road ready. The purchase price under the state contract for 2021 cars is $24,458 each.

“If we buy two used vehicles fully equipped its $49,900. Two new vehicles with zero miles and factory warranties is $62,916, a difference of $13,016,” he said.

Chief Collins said he would like to keep two of the four Ford Explorers and one of the three Ford Crown Victoria’s in the fleet as back up vehicles.

Public Works Director Robinson is asking the city to budget funds to purchase a new chipper truck and a Ford F150 pickup truck.

“A new chipper truck with bed is almost $60,000 and a new Ford F150 is $28,000,” said Robinson.

Chief Parker is again asking that the city budget funding for “a couple of full time firefighters” as well as extra money for firefighter training and travel.

“A few extra people have joined the department so our roster has gone up to 29 which means more costs for training. I am asking that this be increased from $5,000 to $7,500.

Chief Parker also asked for a small shift in funding from repairs to supplies to “bump that up from $15,000 to $16,000.

He also wants a new pickup for the department to replace a 14 year old truck with 190,000 miles at a cost of $35,000 which would include the price of the light bar package, striping, etc.

The mayor and aldermen have taken no action yet on any of the requests.

May 13, 2020
By: Dwayne Page

A Smithville man was arrested twice within two days last week for public intoxication after being found lying by the side of the road.

63 year old Johnny Wayne Trapp of Holmes Creek Road is under a $1,000 bond in each case and will make a court appearance on June 11.

Sheriff Patrick Ray said that on May 6 a deputy spotted Trapp lying in a ditch by the side of McMinnville Highway. The officer stopped and got Trapp to his feet. Trapp had a strong odor of alcohol on him. His speech was slurred and he was very unsteady. Trapp was placed in custody.

Two days later, May 8, a deputy was dispatched to area of Holmes Creek Road where a man was observed lying off the side of the road and not moving. The officer arrived and found Trapp there. He stopped and got him to his feet. Trapp had a strong odor of alcohol on him and he was unsteady on his feet. Trapp admitted to having been drinking. He was placed under arrest.

58 year old Vulmaro Vega Torres of Tommy Harrell Street, Smithville is charged with driving under the influence. Bond for Torres is $1,500 and he will be in court June 11.

Sheriff Ray said that on May 7 a deputy spotted a silver Dodge Ram swerve onto the shoulder of the road and six times went into the opposite lane. The officer pulled over the truck and spoke with the driver, Torres. He had a strong odor of alcohol on him and his speech was slurred. Torres submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks.

39 year old Christie Dawn Bouldin of E.H. Haas Road, Dowelltown is charged with public intoxication and violation of General Sessions Court probation. Her court date is June 11.

Sheriff Ray said that on May 4 a deputy responded to a domestic complaint at a home on E.H. Haas Road. Upon arrival the officer spoke with Bouldin who said that she and a man had gotten into an altercation. But while being questioned and examined by EMS Bouldin became belligerent and uncooperative and she began yelling and cussing. Bouldin showed no signs of physical abuse but she appeared to have been under the influence of some substance.

30 year old Eric Dean Morgan of Malone Hollow Road, Alexandria is charged with violating an order of protection. His bond is $2,000 and he will make a court appearance June 11.

Sheriff Ray said that on May 8 at a residence on Malone Hollow Road, Morgan was determined to have violated a court order granted in April for him to keep away from a woman and three children. The officer who arrived at the home in answer to a domestic complaint found Morgan there with her and the children although the woman claimed Morgan had not assaulted them.

May 13, 2020
By:

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Donny Green in DeKalb and Cannon counties reminds producers to report planted, prevented planted, and failed acres to establish or retain FSA program eligibility.

For planted crops, the following acreage reporting dates are applicable for DeKalb and Cannon counties:

May 31: nursery (field grown and container)
July 15: corn, soybeans, cucumbers, okra, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, strawberries,
tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupes, and perennial forage (hay and pasture)
August 15: green beans, hemp
December 15: fall-seeded small grains (wheat)

The following exceptions apply to the above acreage reporting dates:

• The COVID-19 pandemic is posing challenges for 2020 crop year acreage reporting. As a result, any crop that has an acreage reporting date before August 1, 2020 will be considered timely filed if filed within 30 days of the acreage reporting date (listed above).

• If the crop has not been planted by the above acreage reporting date, the acreage must be reported no later than 15 calendar days after planting is completed.

• If a producer acquires additional acreage after the above acreage reporting date, the acreage must be reported no later than 30 calendars days after purchase or acquiring the lease. Appropriate documentation must be provided to the county office.

• If a perennial forage crop is reported with the intended use of “cover only,” “green manure,” “left standing” or “seed,” the acreage must be reported by July 15, 2020.

Producers must report crop acreage they intended to plant but, due to natural disaster, were prevented from planting. Prevented planting acreage must be reported on form FSA-576, Notice of Loss, no later than 15 calendar days after the final planting date, as established by FSA and the Risk Management Agency. According to Green, the final planting date for corn is May 20, 2020 and the final planting date for soybeans is June 15, 2020.

Producers with failed acres should also use form FSA-576, Notice of Loss, to report failed acres. For losses on crops covered by the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program and crop insurance, producers must file a Notice of Loss within 15 days of the occurrence of the disaster or when losses become apparent. Producers must timely file a Notice of Loss for failed acres on all crops including grasses.

Please contact the DeKalb/Cannon County FSA office at 615-597-8225 to schedule an appointment to file a Notice of Loss. To find your local FSA office, visit http://offices.usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

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