County Manager Jerry Ayscue prefaced the presentation by Emergency Management Director Brian Short by referring to previous discussions on jointly-funded Henderson and Vance County programs, specifically the criteria used to determine how the programs are split.
Ayscue said that one of the most commonly discussed criteria for 911 funding is the number of calls that it receives.
The county manager characterized Short’s presentation as one that goes “beyond the surface” in what it takes to “work those calls”.
According to Short, 911 began in Vance County in June of 1987 as a consolidation of dispatch assets into a single unit, thus representing a cost savings to the departments involved.
911 dispatches service for the Henderson Police Department, county EMS, the Henderson Fire Department, the Vance County Sheriff’s Office, the Vance County Fire Department and, during off hours, relays messages to the Henderson Public Works Department, Vance County Animal Control, Social Services, the medical examiner, and juvenile court counselors.
There are usually three to four dispatchers on duty, depending on anticipated call volume. The busiest times for 911 are 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The center has a capacity of six telecommunicators.
Short emphasized that 911 equipment is paid for with funds from the 911 telephone surcharge, and that his department’s equipment is “state of the art”. He said that surcharge money pays for everything that it can legally pay for, and the remaining costs are divided between the city and the county.
911 has a backup generator and a battery backup system that can last sixteen hours.
“911 can’t be in chaos when everything else is,” Short told the members of the Intergovernmental Committee.
In 2009, 911 answered 81,662 calls. Of those, 27,578 were emergencies or potential emergencies. Of those calls, 57% originated in Henderson.
After the presentation, Henderson City Council member Brenda Peace commented that after the presentation she could now answer questions about the consequences of the city pulling its funding for 911.
Ayscue expressed the hope that neither the city nor the county would ever pull funding. He said that the committee had “drilled beneath the surface”, and that 911 service was critical to officers in the field.
Henderson City Manager Ray Griffin noted that 911 also serves as a central emergency command center and a point of contact with Raleigh and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). He also said that the department plans for emergencies, such as heavy snows that occurred this past winter.
County Commission member Eddie Wright stated that he thinks that the city and county need to “stay partners”.
“We don’t need to listen to outside people trying to divide us,” Wright said. “We need to get even stronger.”
Wright went on to say that he did not come to the meeting with his “mind made up”, but that he was at the meeting for the citizens of Vance County.
Commission member Terry Garrison said that the 911 operation was “just a sample” of what the city and county can do working together.