Benton County leaders challenge 911 consolidation deal

Consolidating 911 operations in the Mid-Columbia ran into new headwinds Tuesday when the Benton County Commission challenged a key element of an agreement that would bring Franklin County and the city of Pasco into its system in early 2018.

Benton County Chairman Jim Beaver said Franklin County and the city of Pasco should come on as subscribers, not owner-members.

Months of negotiations led to a transition plan that would make the city and county owners and voting partners in Southeast Communications Center or SECOMM, the 911 dispatch operation managed by Benton County Emergency Services. That would include blending finances from both sides of the river, a sticking point for Beaver.

Under Beaver’s approach, Franklin County and Pasco would essentially be renters, with no financial interest in the system beyond their subscription fees.

“Taking Benton County resources and marrying them to Franklin County resources is not going to benefit Benton County,” Beaver said. “It’s just not going to work.”

Advocates have pushed for a combined 911 center for more than a decade. It appeared to clear a major hurdle earlier this month when the BCES board gave preliminary approval to the transition deal, subject to approval by Benton County and other local jurisdictions.

Under the tentative agreement, Franklin County and Pasco will become owner-members after meeting a series of benchmarks. Each is required to make a $500,000 capital contribution to SECOMM.

The Benton County commissioners viewed the deal with skepticism in a discussion Tuesday. They did not take a vote.

Commissioner Shon Small wants the agreement to specify that members who can’t pay their share of future costs be automatically converted into subscribers.

Keith Johnson, Franklin County’s administrator, was not surprised by the arguments, but understands the concerns, he said. The owner-versus-subscriber question was settled in negotiations.

“We feel it’s late in the game to be raising some of those questions. It’s turf we covered some time ago,” he said.

Consolidation is good for all Tri-Citians, not just Franklin County and its municipalities, Johnson added. A single dispatch center for the region will better serve all area residents, including Benton County mobile phone users whose calls are misrouted to Franklin.

“It looks out for the needs of all residents,” Johnson said.

In a post responding to the news, Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond urged the counties to stop fighting over who paid for what equipment and embrace a system that will improve public safety.

“I find it amazing how politicians will mess with people’s personal safety,” he wrote.

The rising dependance on mobile phones is a major driver behind the move to combine 911 operations. Calls from mobile phones are routed to the center closest to the tower that picks them up, leading to thousands of misdirected calls in the Tri-Cities every year. Those calls have to be transferred, leading to dropped calls and delayed responses.

The situation is growing urgent for Franklin County, which operates an obsolete system in need of replacement. Under the plan, calls originating from Franklin County and the city of Pasco would be directed to SECOMM and the old Franklin system would be retired.

Commissioner Jerome Delvin struck a conciliatory note Tuesday.

“We’ve been working on this for 10 years. We’ll get there,” he said.

This story was originally published May 23, 2017 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Benton County leaders challenge 911 consolidation deal."