Our Voice: Two years too long for consolidated 911

We sure hope the two-year estimate to form a single 911 emergency dispatch center is wrong.

Kennewick City Manager Marie Mosley recently told her city council that 911 consolidation may not happen until 2019, which is a year later than expected.

The public announcement came as a surprise to us and to several other community leaders who have been following the issue.

Mosley is a key member of the group working to unite Benton and Franklin 911 operations, and she later clarified that she was not speaking on behalf of that team. She said she was “just setting expectations to the (Kennewick) city council.”

Even so, the two-year estimate for completing the 911 dispatch merger is alarming.

Pasco Fire Chief Bob Gear told the Herald that he was “floored” by Mosley’s estimate, and he expected emergency services would be consolidated this year.

In addition, Franklin County’s emergency 911 system is outdated, and isn’t likely to last much longer.

In fact, Franklin County Sheriff Jim Raymond said he loses sleep at night worrying about the emergency infrastructure in Franklin County, and that the emergency communications system is best described as sitting on “thin ice.”

The sooner it can join the modern system already in place in Benton County, the better.

Mosley’s remark was made during her deservedly glowing performance review by the Kennewick City Council, and the 911 consolidation was the only job goal she had not met yet.

She is only one of many people involved in the 911 consolidation effort, and her caution about the timeline is understandable — especially considering the issue has been a challenge for years. Everyone involved in the process needs to work hard to prove her wrong, an outcome we’re sure she would welcome.

Currently, Benton and Franklin counties have separate 911 dispatch centers that are only two miles apart. Police, fire officials and other emergency workers have pushed for a consolidated dispatch center for years, and the need is mounting now that most people make emergency calls with cellphones.

The way cellphone calls are routed, there is no way to know which dispatch center is going to answer. If it isn’t the right one — which happens often — then the call must be re-routed, costing precious time.

It has been estimated that as many as 5,000 calls are routed to the wrong dispatch center each year.

But even though a regional approach to emergency communication services makes sense — and Tri-City officials agree it is important — the issue has suffered from failed discussions and years of stalling.

We thought, however, that progress finally was being made.

Just last fall, Benton and Franklin counties agreed to follow a plan worked out by a consultant hired by Franklin County to move the project forward. This is a promising step that should lead to more collaboration and solutions.

Mosley may have wanted to present a safe timeline to the Kennewick City Council, but we would like to think her estimate is way off.

Tri-Citians have been waiting long enough. The community should have one, consolidated emergency dispatch center by this time next year.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 3:50 AM with the headline "Our Voice: Two years too long for consolidated 911."