Council, fiscal court review progress on 911 pact at separate meetings

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016, 5 p.m. — City Attorney Tim Butler gave the Bardstown City Council an update Tuesday night on his negotiations with Nelson Fiscal Court in regard to the E-911 dispatch agreement.

Butler called the county’s response to his draft at their meeting last Friday “a fairly productive discussion.”

City attorney Tim Butler listened to questions about the draft city-county 911 agreement Wednesday morning at a special called Nelson Fiscal Court meeting.

While there were a number of changes discussed in the draft agreement, the biggest sticking point is the city’s proposed contribution to the combined E-911 dispatch budget.

The proposal gives the city financial credit for the 911 fee the county recently agreed to place on property tax bills of all occupied properties — meaning that the city is claiming that collected fee as part of its contribution, and then adding to it an additional $22,800. The resulting total equals the Kentucky State Police’s annual estimate for handling the dispatching services for Bardstown police and fire departments.

Butler said the county countered with $144,020 as the city’s financial contribution outside the 911 fee.

Butler recommended the city insist on a set amount for its contribution rather than agree to a percentage of a number the city has no control over.

Larry Green, the city’s human resources director, said the new agreement would treat the city as a customer, rather than a partner. The city would be unable to make sure a new director is hired, and would not have a controlling vote, he said.

“I don’t know why the city would pay more than the cost of the (dispatch) service established by the Kentucky State Police quote,” Green said.

There are issues related to the quality of the dispatching police and fire agencies are getting as well, Mayor John Royalty told the council.

Royalty said a woman who was hiding in a closet while someone was beating on her door was put on hold by dispatchers when she called the local 911 center. In an effort to reduce costs, Royalty said it was his understanding that the dispatch center has reduced the number of telephone lines it has and laid off dispatchers.

“That puts the citizens at risk, in my opinion,” he said.

Several members of the council have expressed a desire to stay part of the local dispatch center, while Mayor John Royalty and his staff have presented arguments in support of a move to KSP.

Councilman Fred Hagan suggested that the solution for dispatching emergency services in the county may be for the entire county to go with KSP for dispatching.

In the short term, Hagan said he supported continued negotiations for determining the city’s contribution as a fixed amount.

Nelson Fiscal Court met in a special-called meeting Wednesday morning to review progress on an agreement governing the joint city-county dispatch board.

NELSON FISCAL COURT 911 MEETING. Nelson Fiscal Court met Wednesday morning to discuss the recent changes to a draft 911 agreement between county government and the City of Bardstown.

Judge Executive Dean Watts told the court he and county attorney Matthew Hite met with Bardstown Mayor John Royalty and city attorney Tim Butler on Friday, Aug. 5 for initial discussions of the city’s draft agreement.

The existing agreement expired last year and has been extended. That extension expires in September.

The court reviewed some changes proposed in the document’s wording. The biggest sticking point with the draft according to Watts remains the amount of money the city has proposed for its contribution.

The magistrates and Watts discussed the proposal and posed several questions to Butler, who attended the meeting.

Bardstown Mayor John Royalty and councilman Bobby Simpson also attended Wednesday’s meeting.

Royalty said that for the city, the decision regarding 911 dispatching will be a business decision.

In a text to local media after the meeting, Royalty said both the city and county could save a total of more than $400,000 by going as a group to KSP dispatching, which he called “good business and good judgment.”

In comments to WBRT Radio after the meeting, Watts said he was hopeful that the city and county will continue to negotiate in good faith and reach an agreeable compromise.

Watts said fiscal court is committed to keeping emergency service dispatching a local operation.

“Cities and counties can farm out a lot of services, but dispatch service is one that we’re not willing to farm out,” he said.

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