The Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District?s desire to move from using dispatch services provided by the city of Sweet Home to those provided by Linn County might be a good move.
But the more we learn about the reasons behind this planned departure, the less convinced we feel.
The fire department will save some $28,000 by switching service, and that?s money that can be used to help pay for day-to-day operations, personnel and equipment. That?s the good news. The bad news is that the city of Sweet Home is left with a $70,000 shortfall that it must find some way to make up if we are to continue to have 24-hour police dispatch and jail services.
Beyond the cash savings, dispatch services would improve somewhat by switching to Linn County in three areas that we can see.
First, dispatchers in each center would not face the problem of transmitting at exactly the same time on the same channels, something that occasionally occurs.
Second, 911 calls will no longer go through the 911 center in Albany to be transferred back to Sweet Home. Whether that would make a significant diffence depends on whom you ask. Some officials say the delays are only seconds. Others say the time it takes to transfer the call takes longer, though no one seems eager to build their case on concrete figures.
Third, Linn County has three to four dispatchers on duty at all times, and the center can handle simultaneous calls with a single dispatcher on each call. The Sweet Home dispatch center must call in a second dispatcher when things get busy.
These are clear improvements in service, but they may not be significant. These three areas of concern have not been shown to cause anything close to a significant threat to the community?s safety. The service has been adequate.
District officials say that money isn?t a key deciding factor in this decision, though in the next breath they note that the county will charge them less than the city does. They have said, in so many words, that money isn?t a high priority in this decision. We say it should be. We?re the ones paying for it.
Coverage problems raised by the fire department can easily be resolved. A fire transmitter sitting on a tower on High Deck has never even been tested for coverage capability, and it should be.
The only supported and compelling reason for the department to switch service is the savings it can expect, but the department has downplayed the importance of the savings in favor of other reasons, including coverage issues.
We have no problem with the job our firefighters do and we want them, within reason, to be equipped as well as possible for the job they?re called on to perform.
The real issue, though, is how a switch to Central Dispatch will serve the citizens of the Sweet Home area, who will be paying the bills. Is it worth it to save money but lose some of the control we have over how that money is spent? We can already see how high we rate when we consider how much control we have over the disposition of our 911 tax dollars. Even though the city and SHFAD are entirely different agencies, the major players in both see each other frequently, if not every day. That?s not going to be as true when our money goes to the county, though a number of county officials, including some dispatchers, are local residents.
Plus, there?s still the problem of SHFAD leaving the city holding the bag on the jail and local dispatch. We recognize that the fire department?s primary goal is not and should not be to fund SHFAD?s jail and dispatch center. But unless fire officials can demonstrate conclusively that there would be a significant benefit to the quality of service they can provide by moving to the county, SHFAD should consider its role in keeping those services in place.
Right now, we?re not convinced that the positives outweigh the negatives if the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District contracts with the county. And if they don?t, that makes the citizens of Sweet Home losers in this deal.
This transfer should be placed on hold until fire officials can do a point-by-point demonstration of how the move would significantly improve the service they provide the citizens of the Sweet Home area.
The contract for dispatch services has been dissolved. Unless quantifiable benefits can be identified for SHFAD?s move to the county, the city of Sweet Home should offer to match Linn County?s rate for service.
That would net only a $28,000 revenue shortfall if the fire department accepts such an offer.
If those quantifiable benefits cannot be clearly established, the fire district should accept the offer.