by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
In the last fiscal year, the board of supervisors created a countywide new fire and emergency services district levy that would allocate $0.11 of the $0.72 real estate tax rate to offset rising public safety costs. The balance of the real estate tax rate ($0.61) would be applied to fund other county services. In an administrative oversight, the fire and EMS district levy was not applied to mobile homes, which are taxed at the same rate as other real estate. The proposed 2021-22 budget would tax mobile homes at the same $0.72 rate, rather than the $0.61 rate from a year ago. Voorhees said the change amounts to approximately $4,030…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
The Bedford County 911 Center on Thursday reversed a controversial change it made four months ago by restoring a five-minute interval for ambulance services to commit to answering emergency calls.
Four months ago, the center reduced the time it gave ambulance services to muster a crew to about 2.5 minutes, because of increasingly long and increasingly frequent delays before patients received help, especially after COVID-19 mushroomed in Bedford County, according to officials…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
Weeks after Mayor Svante Myrick ’09 made national headlines for unveiling a sweeping proposal to replace the Ithaca Police Department with a civilian-led agency, the city and county have both approved the recommendations.
The plan includes 19 recommendations that aim to increase transparency, accountability and trust between local law enforcement and residents. But the recommendation that has gotten the most attention locally and nationally is the first — for the city to create a new department with armed workers, including previous IPD officers, and unarmed workers who will be trained to respond to different types of crises…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
As the Chittenden County Public Safety Authority thrusts ahead on its nearly $2.3 million effort to regionalize emergency dispatch, the voices on the other end of the phone worry how consolidation will distort their jobs.
“You lose that institutional knowledge when you take someone out of their community and put them into a new environment,” said Deb Kruger, who has dispatched in South Burlington for 40 years…
by ECC Editor | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
The president of Jersey City’s largest municipal employees’ union criticized the city’s response to a coronavirus outbreak that left 18 Jersey City police and fire dispatchers out sick from work and one in the hospital.
Julio Cordero Jr., the president of the Jersey City Public Employees Union Local 246, said the city failed to respond quickly and thoroughly to an outbreak this month at the city’s Bishop Street public safety communications center… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Apr 2, 2021 | Comm Center News, Opinions
The Lake Gaston 911 Community Taskforce invites residents to join us as we honor dispatchers and telecommunicators during National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week, April 11-17, 2021.
We want to say thank you to our 911 dispatchers for the tireless and critical work they perform throughout the country, especially here in rural Virginia and North Carolina. These dedicated professionals often go unrecognized because they are the calm, yet unseen voice on the other end of the telephone line during stressful, and sometimes life-threatening situations… READ MORE
