Cities Want Payment for 911 Cell Plan

By Gena Kittner, The Wisconsin State Journal

Apr. 7–Enhanced 911 calls from wireless phones in Dane County are on hold, and the cities of Sun Prairie and Middleton are asking for hundreds of thousands of dollars from the county in a dispute over who will provide the service.

Dane County was hoping to start an enhanced 911 system in March that would enable county dispatchers to pinpoint the location of cellular callers. But the program has been delayed because Sun Prairie and Middleton are competing with the county for some of the same cellular coverage areas.

“The boundaries of cell phone services cannot be made the same as two city boundaries, “said Topf Wells, chief of staff to Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk.

In early 2005, Sun Prairie and Middleton approached the county to apply jointly for a state grant that would reimburse each call center for some of the costs of implementing an enhanced wireless 911 system capable of detecting where the cellular caller is and connecting them directly to the appropriate dispatcher.

Both Sun Prairie and Middleton dispatch centers have invested in the technology and trained personnel to also handle the enhanced 911 calls made from cell phones.

But the county didn’t include the cities on a state grant application to help fund the service because it was concerned that it would delay the dispatch of fire and ambulance services, said Wells.

Now the cities have filed a notice of claim with the county to recoup lost funding, which for Sun Prairie is about $246,000, or be allowed to implement the service, said Sun Prairie Mayor Joe Chase. “We feel we provide the best emergency service dispatch and we want to hold on to that authority level in our community.”

Chase said the cellular companies refuse to get in between the cities and the county until a resolution has been worked out. Mike Davis, Middleton administrator, said the city has invested $226,000 in the wireless 911 project and the county has long been aware of the city’s intentions.

“The cities of Sun Prairie and Middleton are voluntarily funding these services that help the overall dispatch overload,” he said.

The way Sun Prairie interpreted the grant program, more than one area could have been included on the grant request, said Patrick Cannon, Sun Prairie administrator. It wasn’t a competitive grant, there was enough money in the pool to fund both of us, he said.

“The monies that our two communities have put into (bringing) systems up to speed is being trumped by the county because they feel they have to handle all cellular 911 calls,” Chase said. “We really have felt the investment we have made is just going right down the drain.”

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, The Wisconsin State Journal

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.