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LISBON -- Emergency response personnel will continue playing a part in Columbiana County's 911 system, acting as advisors to the new 911 Program Review Committee the county was mandated to form.
A new state law passed in the fall required the naming of a six-member board with a very specific makeup for the 911 Program Review Committee: 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.
Members of the existing county 911 Emergency Services Committee expressed some concern in November about a lack of emergency personnel in the makeup of the new committee required by state law to take the lead on 911.
According to county Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director and 911 Coordinator Brian Rutledge, county Sheriff Brian McLaughlin put those concerns to rest during a meeting last week by recommending the 911 Emergency Services Committee remain in an advisory role, noting the wealth of knowledge and experience among those members.
McLaughlin is a member of the new 911 Program Committee, but previously had attended or had representatives attend the 911 Emergency Services Committee, which includes dispatchers, police chiefs, fire chiefs and EMS personnel within the county, along with county Emergency Management Agency personnel, all familiar with 911.
Commissioner Tim Weigle, who was already involved in 911 through the Emergency Services Committee, also is a member of the new 911 Program Committee. Other members include Salem Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, St. Clair Township Trustee Jim Sabatini and Madison Township Trustee Wayne Chamberlain, who was selected by a majority of the townships.
Still pending is the selection of a representative of the municipalities that must be determined by a majority of the cities and villages in the county.
A meeting that had been scheduled for this week for the 911 Program Committee will be rescheduled, Rutledge said, hopefully with the sixth member in place.
The purpose will be to approve a revised county 911 plan which will include language acknowledging the advisory role of the 911 Emergency Services Committee, along with streamlining the plan.
Rutledge explained that the current plan includes some language that's no longer necessary, with the plan reduced to half it's current size. He also said the makeup of the 911 Emergency Services Committee may be slimmed down, eliminating the need for phone company representatives, but keeping the emergency responders in place.
The deadline to get the new plan in place is April 3.
Another part of the new 911 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 wireless line starting Jan. 1, but out of that 40 cents, the county will only receive 72 percent of the funding, which Rutledge previously estimated at 28 cents to 29 cents per wireless line.
During the recent 911 meeting, he said discussion came up again on consolidating the five Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) into one, but once again, the issue comes back to funding.
The county has five PSAPS including the Columbiana, Salem, East Liverpool and East Palestine police departments and the Sheriff's Office.
He said the thought was that the amount of funding received from the increased fee would be known by now, but the state is continuing to work on the formula
In 2023, the county received $108,000 from the 50-cent monthly fee per landline and $204,132 from the 25-cent monthly fee per wireless line.
Rutledge said the discussion of funding also included different ways to pay for 911, such as sales tax, property tax or inside millage, but that's something all the entities in the county would have to agree on.
Rutledge said the county is continuing to move forward with the upgrade of equipment and software for the state's new next generation 911 system, still hopeful that the state will provide funding toward the cost. The switch to the new equipment must be done the first week of October this year.
The final cost is still being determined, along with what the county's share of the cost will be.
On a positive note, he said work on adding data to the special needs data base for people with special needs in the county is continuing. Rutledge said there's some new legislation regarding the formation of a statewide special needs data base, so he said it's nice to see Columbiana County ahead of the curve.
A new date for the 911 Program Review Committee will be announced when it's determined.