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Elgin’s city council tentatively agreed to re-sign an interlocal 24-month agreement with Bastrop County to be a part of its shared regional emergency communications center.
The Bastrop County Office of Emergency Communications has been servicing Elgin Police Department for two years, responding to 911 calls and dispatching local responders accordingly. Police Chief Chris Noble sees this as the best option, considering economic and logistical factors, but city representatives would prefer to return to an in-house radio operation.
“It’s just not the same as having somebody in your own town that’s really familiar with the town,” said City Manager Thomas Mattis.
The contract has gone down from $181,000 to $124,000 this year, and will drop by another $30,000 after 12 more months. Compared with the staffing costs and what it would take to construct a new local response center that meets required equipment standards, this is a significantly more affordable option, said Noble.
Elgin’s old communication center spent $365,000 annually on personnel costs and had trouble keeping the five positions staffed. With the sheer volume of calls that come in now, Noble believes they would need to double that if they wanted to go back to inhouse dispatching. Along with new equipment and creating the space for it, the endeavor would cost millions, he said.
Bastrop County Communications is currently fully staffed.
The police chief has found that the contract also improves workflow and ease of communication.
“We’re all on the same network, we can talk to each other,” he said. “When it used to come here, we would have to ask if they need fire, EMS or police. Then we would have to pick up the phone and call whoever. That’s when you’re talking about slowing stuff down.”
The mapping system that Bastrop County’s communication center utilizes can locate the exact location of callers within nine feet. Noble did note that there may be some confusion when callers are on the move in between county lines, being redirected between different response areas, but has not had any documented cases of this happening.
The option to re-sign again will be brought up 120 days before the current contract expires.
“I think there’s a certain desire to wanting your own, there’s a romanticism there. I can’t tell you why, but what I can tell you is what works, and what we’re doing now works very well,” Noble said.
The Chief said he believes that EPD should stay the course with Bastrop County, but if the council agrees and he is instructed otherwise, he will build the best radio center possible.
— Chris Noble, Elgin police chief
