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COLUMBIANA -- The city has hired three people to help cover dispatching shifts at the police station while continuing to iron out plans to move dispatching services to the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office in the future.
City Manager Lance Willard gave city council an update on the matter during the Oct. 17 council meeting.
He said the two "main hurdles" to move dispatching to the county are PSAP regulations and equipment.
PSAP stands for Public Safety Answering Point, and there are currently five in the county, with Columbiana serving as one.
The other four PSAPs are the sheriff's office, Salem, East Liverpool and East Palestine.
PSAPs are responsible for answering their own 911 calls in addition to serving as 911 dispatch centers for the remainder of the county, with calls routed to them based on geography.
If or once Columbiana moves its dispatching fully to the county sheriff's office, it would no longer serve as a PSAP.
The city began considering outsourcing all of its dispatching services to the county as a result of staffing shortages.
In the meantime, however, the city has opted to hire and train candidates to fill gaps in the dispatching schedule that are being filled by police officers.
As of Nov. 4, Willard said that the city has hired two full time dispatchers and one part time dispatcher, although one of the new full time dispatchers will be leaving to pursue a job elsewhere, so more help will still be needed.
"Patrolmen continue to cover shifts and help train the new dispatchers," he said.
As for the PSAP regulations, Willard noted that the state recently made changes to those regulations.
For example, the new regulations will change the county's 911 committee, which currently consists of dispatchers, police chiefs, fire chiefs and EMS personnel within the county, along with county Emergency Management Agency personnel, all familiar with 911.
The new state changes now require a six-member board that must be comprised of a county commissioner representative; an elected county official; the chief executive officer of the most populous city (which would be the Salem mayor); a trustee from the most populous township (which would be St. Clair Township); a trustee selected by the majority of trustees in the county; and a municipal legislative authority representative selected by the majority of municipalities in the county.
According to a recent report, two more members are still to be selected.
As for equipment, Willard said the city hopes to learn more about upgrade costs and a timeline within the next few weeks.
"We appreciate our staff, they have been great through this challenging time. Our dispatchers and patrolman have been working together," Willard said.