Mayor signs agreement to keep city part of the unified E-911 dispatch center

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Friday, Aug. 21, 2015, 1:30 p.m. — Bardstown Mayor John Royalty and Nelson County Judge Executive have signed an agreement that will keep the City of Bardstown involved in the operation and funding of the E-911 Dispatch Center.

The announcement comes roughly one month before the existing agreement expires next month.   The Bardstown City Council voted Sept. 23, 2014 to give notice it was canceling its agreement for the joint E-911 dispatch center as well as the joint city-county recreation board. The recreation agreement expired June 30 and was not renewed.

The funding levels for the E-911 Dispatch center will remain the same, though there will be one adjustment.

In July 2013, the dispatch board decided it could no longer handle utility outage calls for the City of Bardstown, and gave the city notice it would no longer do so. The city’s police and fire dispatchers handled city utility calls prior to the merger to create the E-911 Dispatch center, and the city anticipated the new dispatch center would continue to do so.

The dispatch board’s decision forced the city to hire a vendor to handle after-hour utility calls. With the new agreement, there is likely to be an reduction of about $20-25,000 in the city’s E-911 funding to offset for the costs it incurred when the dispatch board decided it could no longer handle city utility calls.

The new agreement, signed by the mayor and judge executive, says both governments will work together to improve the dispatch center’s operations.

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