A year ago, Daviess County Fiscal Court signaled they wanted to readjust the Central Dispatch agreement with the City of Owensboro. After months of discussions, the two entities are about to renew their 15-year agreement with a few tweaks.
The Owensboro City Commission on Tuesday approved the new memorandum of agreement (MOA), which City Manager Nate Pagan said is largely the same as it has been since it was first enacted in 2009.
Pagan said the MOA has three main changes. The first is that instead of the police chief and sheriff overlooking the hiring of the 911 Director, the responsibility will now be solely under the purview of the police chief.
In addition, the present oversight committee of key user groups — including the city and county fire groups — will transition to an advisory council where the County judge-executive and city manager will receive the minutes of their meetings.
Pagan said they also made a minor tweak to the calculation to address the center’s operation costs.
“Costs will continue to be shared based on call volume for the city and the county. In the past, the percentage was updated every 3 years, but now it’s updated every year using a rolling 3-year average. So essentially the same with a with a minor tweak,” Pagan said.
He noted a minor language tweak in the dispatch center’s budget that reflects the plans Pagan and former Judge-Executive Al Mattingly devised when he was in office.
“The City is happy to continue administering 911 Dispatch for our community. In partnership with the County, we believe it is definitely in the best interest of public safety for the community,” Pagan said.
Current Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said there was never any intention to sever the agreement last year, but the new agreement reflects the desires of both parties.
“Every user on the county side knew that (separating was) not a foregone conclusion. We are having a conversation, and we hope we can work things out, and I’m pleased with the outcome,” Castlen said.
He said that the item will be on the Fiscal Court’s Thursday meeting agenda, where he will vote to approve, and he is “sure our vote will be along the same line” of the City’s approval Tuesday night.
