911 plan has start date, but not enough dispatchers

An emergency dispatch center in Richland could begin fielding all Mid-Columbia 911 calls by mid-2018 — if it can hire enough dispatchers to handle the volume.

Finding enough people qualified to staff the Southeast Communications Center, or SECOMM, is the major obstacle to closing Franklin County’s antiquated dispatch operation and routing calls to the more modern SECOMM, which is operated by Benton County Emergency Services.

The two sides agreed to consolidate this spring after a decade of starts and stops. With the agreement finally in place, the details of how it will work are coming into focus.

Richland Police Chief Chris Skinner, who oversees SECOMM, said consolidation could be complete by next July if all the pieces fall into place. Staffing is the biggest challenge, he told the BCES board at its monthly meeting Thursday.

Both dispatch centers are understaffed, by about six dispatchers each. Uncertainty about the future — coupled with the stressful nature of the job and 12-hour shifts — makes finding qualified candidates difficult.

SECOMM began recruiting trained dispatchers this month with mixed results. The city of Richland, which manages BCES, posts a starting salary of $19.46 per hour for entry-level candidates.

Skinner said 20 applied, including six Franklin dispatchers and one from King County. The other candidates were not qualified. A larger recruitment effort will begin Sept. 1. Richland plans to use an outside recruiting firm specializing in dispatchers in the effort.

Ideally, SECOMM would fill its six existing vacancies and expand by 15 new jobs, the number authorized in the existing Franklin County operation.

Given the ongoing shortages, Skinner said it’s not reasonable to expect to have a full complement before the switch is thrown. Instead, SECOMM will determine a stable level of operation..

In another major step toward, the BCES board gave provisional approval for a $775,000 transition budget to cover the cost of planning, hiring and possible equipment purchases, including new consoles, through the end of the year.

Richland declined to release the budget except through a request under Washington’s Public Records Act, which gives it five business days to comply. The Tri-City Herald requested the document late Thursday morning.

The budget is subject to review by Richland’s finance manager and the Franklin County partners, which will shoulder the cost as part of the transition agreement. The figure wasn’t submitted to Franklin County or the city of Pasco before the BCES board gave its approval.

The cost is expected, but Keith Johnson, Franklin County’s administrator, anticipates the commission will have questions about the sum. Still, he notes, the Franklin side is eager to keep the momentum going. Anticipating a united future with Benton County, the Franklin system has not had substantial updates and its technology is obsolete and difficult to service.

“People are anxious to get things moving forward,” Johnson said.

Franklin County has banked 911 fees paid by phone customers to cover its share of the transition. Franklin County and the city of Pasco will each pay an additional $500,000 capital buy-in fee when the transition is complete.

A single 911 dispatch center is critical to callers on both sides of the Columbia River, thanks to growing reliance on mobile phones. Emergency calls from mobile phones are routed to the center closest to the tower that handles the call. That’s not always in the right jurisdiction.

Local officials estimate 5,000 calls are misrouted annually, leading to problems when dispatchers have to reroute them to the right spot over landlines.

This story was originally published July 27, 2017 at 6:27 PM with the headline "911 plan has start date, but not enough dispatchers."