By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
One longstanding, unresolved question for the Barren-Metcalfe Emergency Communications Center 911 Governing Board has been answered – at least for now.
That question was whether the local government entities in Metcalfe County wanted to continue to keep open a separate dispatch center in Edmonton, to which 911 calls for fire and police in that county are forwarded from the BMECC in Glasgow, or close it and merge that service with the one in Glasgow. All 911 calls from the two counties are routed to the Glasgow center first, though. The center in Edmonton employs two people full time and has 10 part-time positions, and its expenses not covered by 911 surcharges on land and cell phone lines are divided between the Metcalfe County and City of Edmonton governments.
Metcalfe County Judge-Executive Larry Wilson told the board, of which he is also a member, at a special meeting Thursday that his fiscal court and the Edmonton City Council have both voted they want to keep the Edmonton center open.
A second part of that question was then whether Metcalfe County was willing to pay the additional funds of approximately $100,000 requested.
Wilson said Dawn DeVore, the Edmonton city administrator/clerk/treasurer, had added some figures and come with a figure owed to be divided between those two governments. This was based, said Edmonton City Attorney Brian Pack, on nine months’ invoices that had been totaled, then divided by nine for an average monthly amount that was then multiplied by 12 to come up with an estimated annual amount. He said that annual amount was nearly $14,000.
Linda Wells, board treasurer, said an invoice for $40,388.68 was just provided to Wilson that includes equipment upgrades, so her question was whether the two governments in Metcalfe County would have to vote each month on whether they would pay the bill, and if they don’t, where would that leave them.
Pack said it’s his understanding that this would be a one-time payment for the year, so monthly billing wouldn’t be necessary.
“There’s no reason to send them bills. You all are going to have to fix your budget within the money you all are getting, or the fiscal courts are going to have to transition that [fee] from their landlines so that you can get more revenues,” he said, with another option being a transition to a regional center with the centers merged.
“Again, there was no interest in the consolidation thing. When it came to the additional money, there were questions about the monthly bills because they did not match the audits. … The numbers were different. We don’t know how they’re different, but we decided to take those numbers at face value and try to annualize it, so that we could make a good-faith basis to contribute,” Pack said. “On the other hand, before money is spent beyond what’s there, what the tax revenue is, it’s my understanding that both the city and county don’t want to find out after the fact. If there’s additional money that you all want, that needs to be discussed ahead of time instead of spending it and then coming after it.”
Beverly Harbison, director of the BMECC in Glasgow, noted along the way that those upgrades were budgeted, and the budget was approved by the board, including those members representing Metcalfe County, so they should be the ones communicating back with their respective governments about the anticipated costs.
Wilson is new to his office this year, but Curt Estes is the Edmonton mayor’s designee to serve on the board in his stead and was part of the board in the previous four years.
Discussion led from there to possibilities of sources for additional revenues, as the number of phone lines has significantly decreased with the increasing use of cell phones, but that increase in cell lines has not compensated enough for the shrinking landline revenue. Wilson said his county is checking on whether it’s possible to add the fee to internet bills, but it was brought to his attention that there are more providers than he may have realized, and Harbison said she’s never heard of a county billing that way and wasn’t sure it would be legal.
Park City Mayor and board member Larry Poteet suggested the counties should mirror one another in terms of how they go about trying to increase the revenue.
He said they’ve got to quit this fighting among themselves.
After further comments, he concluded, “My question is: Who can put a price on someone’s life?”
Glasgow Mayor Henry Royse said he’s not authorized to spend Glasgow money for Metcalfe’s portion of the 911 service, but the way he sees it is that the taxpayers of Glasgow already have been making sure that the other county has 911 service.
“There’s no way to dispute that,” he said. “The only way to fix it is to merge.”
In doing so, in addition to other benefits, they could be better qualified for grant funds, he said.
Various board members provided input throughout the meeting about the pros and cons of merging the centers, which has been decided for at least the short term, and Pack said that if they wanted to come make that case to the Edmonton City Council, he could get them on the agenda and suggested Wilson would do likewise with the fiscal court, to which he nodded in agreement.
Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd said after the meeting that a visit to the Metcalfe County Fiscal Court already happened in May.
“I feel like we need to pay our fair share …,” Wilson said. “I want all us to pay our part, and I think what angers me – I fell into this when this should have been settled three or four years ago.”
“Amen!” said Harbison, with others voicing agreement.
This longstanding discussion has continued through multiple administrations.
In other business, the board approved its budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year. The total budget is $677,550, and it shows a $160,000 shortfall – mostly one-time expenses such as equipment upgrades – that will come from reserves. The budget this board approves is only for the funds for which it has oversight authority – essentially 911 surcharges
Other action items were approvals of payment of insurance premiums – $15,736.85 for liability and $5,309.23 for property – and $5,778 to Indigital for an annual maintenance fee for Texty, the center’s text-to-911 software.
The board’s next regular meeting is at 4:30 p.m. July 25 at the BMECC, 118 E. Washington St., Glasgow. In the interim, Byrd plans to meet with Wilson and all four mayors within the two counties to discuss updates to the interlocal agreement and revenue options.
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