New County Budget Includes Nine New 911 Staffers
Police Priority Dispatch System Wasn't Yet Discussed
Updated: 7:26 am CST November 18, 2008
Related
SURVEY: Have Confidence In 911 Call Center?
TALKBACK: What Do You Think?
READ: Dane County Executive's Directives To 911 Center Director (PDF) (Nov. 7, 2008)READ: Dispatcher: Mistake Was Made At 911 Center (Nov. 2008)READ: Director Of 911 Call Center Steps Down (Sept. 2008)READ: Dane County Changes 911 Policy After UW-Madison Student's DeathREAD: Dane County Unveils 911 Improvement PlanREAD: Dane County Committee Approves New Audit Of 911 CenterREAD: Officials Release Edited, Redacted Report On Controversial 911 CallREAD: Report Says 911 Dispatcher Made Protocol ErrorsREAD: Public Questions Reliability Of 911 CenterREAD: New Web Site Gives Information About 911 CenterREAD: Read Falk Memo To 911 Center (PDF Format) (May 2008)READ: Read Kathleen Falk Statement Regarding 911 Incident (PDF Format) (May 2008)
DANE COUNTY 911 CALL CENTER
SURVEY: Have Confidence In 911 Call Center?TALKBACK: What Do You Think?READ: Dane County Executive's Directives To 911 Center Director (PDF) (Nov. 7, 2008)READ: Dispatcher: Mistake Was Made At 911 Center (Nov. 2008)READ: Director Of 911 Call Center Steps Down (Sept. 2008)READ: Dane County Changes 911 Policy After UW-Madison Student's DeathREAD: Dane County Unveils 911 Improvement PlanREAD: Dane County Committee Approves New Audit Of 911 CenterREAD: Officials Release Edited, Redacted Report On Controversial 911 CallREAD: Report Says 911 Dispatcher Made Protocol ErrorsREAD: Public Questions Reliability Of 911 CenterREAD: New Web Site Gives Information About 911 CenterREAD: Read Falk Memo To 911 Center (PDF Format) (May 2008)READ: Read Kathleen Falk Statement Regarding 911 Incident (PDF Format) (May 2008) MADISON, Wis. -- The Dane County 911 Center will get nine new staffers in the coming year.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe Dane County Board of Supervisors passed the operating budget for the 911 Center to include the nine new staffers, which fits the recommendations made in an independent audit, released 10 days ago.Beside the 2009 operating budget, they also approved the capital spending budget after a late-night vote. The proposal includes money for a new $150,000 dispatch system in the 911 center called police priority dispatch, which uses uniform protocols to determine when and how many officers to send on a call, WISC-TV reported.Some board members said that they expected the discussion to be contentious."This is singularly the most important improvement we can make in our 911 system," said Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. "So why several county board supervisors are proposing to yank it, is mystifying to me.""We didn't have to get clobbered over the head to get that message," said Supervisor Bob Salov. "We should have known that message. Now that we did get the message in a formal study, we need to move and add to our staff the nine people."About 100 firefighters from across Dane County made a show of support at Monday night's meeting for new radios that will be needed when a new digital radio infrastructure goes into effect in 2012.The 2009 budget contains money for a new federally-mandated radio infrastructure, but not the radios for all Dane County municipalities. An individual end-user radio can cost up to $2,500, WISC-TV reported."We want to make sure that we are able to talk to each and every responder, fire, police or EMS going to an incident," said Glenn Linzmeier, president of the Dane County Fire Chiefs Association.Supervisors voted down the resolution that would have allocated funds to those municipalities as part of a cost-sharing deal to buy an initial set of radios.Those in favor of the resolution asked that a task force be formed to figure out precisely what is needed and how it should be funded before the switch-over in 2012.None of the 911 center budget items were met with opposition.Falk said that she expects to sign the budget into law later this week after review.Monday night was the first night of discussion for the more than $400 million budget.Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.
VIDEO: Watch The ReportThe Dane County Board of Supervisors passed the operating budget for the 911 Center to include the nine new staffers, which fits the recommendations made in an independent audit, released 10 days ago.Beside the 2009 operating budget, they also approved the capital spending budget after a late-night vote. The proposal includes money for a new $150,000 dispatch system in the 911 center called police priority dispatch, which uses uniform protocols to determine when and how many officers to send on a call, WISC-TV reported.Some board members said that they expected the discussion to be contentious."This is singularly the most important improvement we can make in our 911 system," said Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. "So why several county board supervisors are proposing to yank it, is mystifying to me.""We didn't have to get clobbered over the head to get that message," said Supervisor Bob Salov. "We should have known that message. Now that we did get the message in a formal study, we need to move and add to our staff the nine people."About 100 firefighters from across Dane County made a show of support at Monday night's meeting for new radios that will be needed when a new digital radio infrastructure goes into effect in 2012.The 2009 budget contains money for a new federally-mandated radio infrastructure, but not the radios for all Dane County municipalities. An individual end-user radio can cost up to $2,500, WISC-TV reported."We want to make sure that we are able to talk to each and every responder, fire, police or EMS going to an incident," said Glenn Linzmeier, president of the Dane County Fire Chiefs Association.Supervisors voted down the resolution that would have allocated funds to those municipalities as part of a cost-sharing deal to buy an initial set of radios.Those in favor of the resolution asked that a task force be formed to figure out precisely what is needed and how it should be funded before the switch-over in 2012.None of the 911 center budget items were met with opposition.Falk said that she expects to sign the budget into law later this week after review.Monday night was the first night of discussion for the more than $400 million budget.Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.
Previous Stories:
- November 8, 2008: Dane County, Madison Working On 911 Problems
- November 7, 2008: Dispatcher: Mistake Was Made At 911 Center
- November 6, 2008: Dane County 911 Center Comes Under Fire Again
- October 24, 2008: Residents Respond To Dane County 2009 Budget
- September 29, 2008: Falk Unveils $15M County Budget
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