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LISBON -- Members of the existing Columbiana County 911 committee noted a lack of emergency personnel in the makeup of a 911 Program Review Committee required by a new state law to now take the lead on 911.
"Only one of those people of the six members has had his boots on the ground," Highlandtown Fire Chief Jeremiah Cole said, asking about the status of the current committee.
The current committee is made up 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 law was passed earlier this month and requires a six-member board with a very specific makeup: a representative of the county commissioners; 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 in the county, which is 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.
Commissioners have already appointed Commissioner Tim Weigle as their representative and commissioners appointed Sheriff Brian McLaughlin as the elected county official. McLaughlin was the person Cole referred to in his comments, but Weigle has been involved with the 911 committee for several years and serves as chairman.
Weigle said St. Clair Township trustees selected Trustee Jim Sabatini to represent them and Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey will represent Salem, the most populous city.
That leaves the township trustees throughout the county to name a trustee to represent them and the municipalities or cities and villages to name a member from among the council members to represent them.
County Assistant Prosecutor Krista Peddicord, who's been reviewing the new law, said the new committee will be in charge of 911 and in charge of making any amendments to the 911 plan. She also said the new committee will have the option to keep the existing 911 Emergency Service Committee in place as an advisory board.
"I think it would be valuable to have this committee," McLaughlin said about the existing committee.
Dickey added that she would rather have the existing committee behind the new committee due to the knowledge the members have regarding 911.
"There's a lot of experience in this room," Cole said, noting the new committee should be attending their meetings.
Peddicord suggested that the two remaining members who have to be appointed be filled by people with a background in fire and EMS.
"Maybe that's who should be sought out for the remaining positions," she said.
EMA Deputy Director and 911 Coordinator Brian Rutledge indicated a need to have the new 911 Program Review Committee in place by the first of the year since the amended 911 plan must be submitted to the state by March 31.
He would like to be able to review the changes with the existing committee during its next scheduled meeting at 1 p.m. Feb. 1 at the EMA and have the new committee there.
Another part of the legislation was the funding for wireless lines, which ended up being a lot less than what the committee was hoping to see. Currently, a fee of 25 cents is charged per cell phone line, voice over internet protocol (voip) line or multi-line systems (capped at a certain number). Out of that 25 cents per line, the county receives 97 percent or about 24 cents per line.
The new legislation upped the fee to 40 cents per line starting Jan. 1, but out of that 40 cents, the county will only receive 72 percent of the funding, which Rutledge estimated at 28 cents to 29 cents per line. He said they had been hoping for a new line fee of at least 64 cents or 70 cents per line.
He explained the new percentage share went into effect already with the legislation on Oct. 3, but the increased fee doesn't start until Jan. 1, which means the county will experience a shortfall that he said he has been assured will be made up by the state.
EMA Director Peggy Clark said the bigger concern is the fact that the new law placed a sunset clause on that 40-cent fee, meaning it will expire in a couple years. She said they'll keep pushing the local legislators for help, saying it doesn't appear the counties are getting a whole lot of help to make all the changes the state wants for 911.
The county is one of six pilot counties that went on the next generation 911 system and now it's time for an upgrade of the equipment and software. Rutledge said he feels the funding will be there from the state for the upgrades.
Rutledge mentioned the talk about Columbiana wanting to no longer be a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) for 911. The county has five PSAPS including Columbiana. Other PSAPS are located at the sheriff's office and the Salem, East Liverpool and East Palestine police departments.
The new review committee will be the one that has to approve any change in PSAPs and Weigle said a plan has to be in place to take those calls if there's a staffing issue.