This move is only a show of support for an initiative that is under way to transform the Joint Emergency Communication Operation Board (JECOB) from advisory status to a stand alone entity that would be solely in charge of the 911 service.
As it stands now, the Logan County Fiscal Court not only governs the service - with JECOB as its advisor - but also subsidizes it by $278,000 a year.
Mayor Gene Zick was the tie breaking vote that sealed the decision to support the initiative Tuesday night. Councilman Chuck Phillips abstained saying he wanted to leave the decision up to the incoming council. Jack Whipple and Mark Stratton voted yes with Lanny McPherson and Jimmy Davenport voting no. Russell Jones was absent.
“Why would we even want to get involved with this,” said McPherson, who pointed out the county was taking care of the financial overflow and the city of Russellville did not currently have to fund the service.
When the 911 service transferred its operations from the city of Russellville in the late 1990s to county authority, an interlocal agreement was entered into between Adairville, Auburn, Lewisburg and the county. JECOB was then created as an advisor to the county, which included representatives from all four partners and some at-large members.
According to Police Chief Barry Dill, who serves as one of Russellville's representatives on JECOB, the board is working hard and putting in a lot of hours making recommendations only to have them ignored by Fiscal Court.
“JECOB has no power and Fiscal Court has all the power,” said Dill at Tuesday's meeting. “A lot of times they take our advice but a lot of times they don't.
Zick told the council he believes there have been major issues relative to financing and personnel of the 911 system. He said even though all the details of making JECOB more than an advisor have yet to be worked out he thinks there is a better way to manage the organization.
Judge Executive Logan Chick disagreed with Zick about there being major issues at the center. He told the N-D&L that everything was going well.
Chick said he knew about the concept of JECOB taking on the responsibility of the ECC and said he was going to bring it up at the next Fiscal Court meeting. He said he didn't feel his court would be in opposition to the idea simply because it would save the county a lot of money by turning over control to an independent board.
“I cannot speak for the magistrates, but I think they would turn it loose because of the savings,” said Chick.
Currently the 911 system is funded through a fee collected on land lines of $244,000, a fee collected on wireless from the state of $105,000 and the county's subsidy of $278,000.
Zick did note that if JECOB became an independent board to govern the 911 system they would have to find funding somewhere. Russellville city attorney Bob Hedges said he and county attorney Tom Noe were going to speak with the Kentucky League of Cities about the idea.
Chick said he felt if the idea became a reality the cities would have to subsidize JECOB for a few years till it got on its feet and he didn't know if they would support the initiative to that extent.
Auburn mayor Dewey Roche said he felt the concept of making JECOB a stand alone manager of 911 was a good one; however, his city would not be able to financially support it.
We just lost a factory and we just don't have the money,” said Roche.
Auburn Police Chief and JECOB chairman Scott Harmon said this was just an idea and was one in its early stages. “We are still going through the process and we are taking it day by day,” said Harmon.
The 911 system will be going through extensive and expensive changes over the next year in preparation for an upgrade to digital. It has been said in previous court meetings that costs for the upgrade could reach a half a million dollars.
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