County seeking answers as dispatch faces emergency

By Carolyn Reid

Judge/Executive David Fields called a 6 p.m. meeting Sunday evening with Pendleton County Dispatch concerning committee meetings that are exploring options for the dispatch service for the county.

Saturday, the Falmouth Outlook reached out to Fields, Magistrate Rick Mineer and Emergency Management Director Mike Moore after a post on social media raised questions regarding the future of the service that has been the helm of operations for all county first responders for years. Fields responded later in the day, saying the fiscal court committee that is over emergency services had been looking for options for dispatch, citing competition as the reason for seeking information that could offer solutions for the rising costs and attrition centering on dispatch for the county.

Those options include the possibility of merging with Kentucky State Police or presenting a pay increase. A pay increase will need another funding source, so that is another question to be answered, as well.

The Falmouth Outlook met with Fields Monday after he met with the dispatchers Sunday evening to fill them in.

According to Fields, the court started seeking information on merging with another entity long before the Saturday morning social media frenzy. The original thought was to merge with Harrison or Bracken Counties as all were experiencing the same concerns. Those two counties took different routes, leaving Pendleton County to seek other ways to handle the fact their pay scale could not compete with other dispatch centers.

Adding to the budget concern, Kentucky regulations now require all dispatchers to be trained in a one-month session at the police academy in Richmond. At one time, part-timers were not required to have that training. That changed, adding more costs to an already burdened budget.

To make matters even more frustrating, those dispatchers who are trained by Pendleton County often go to other counties for better pay once they are trained.

Jenny Schlueter, PC Payroll and HR, shared the county pay scale, most recently updated in 2020. The overall hourly rate on average for the eight full-time and seven part-time dispatchers is $15.12, with full-time averaging $16.80 per hour and part-time averaging $13.20 per hour. According to these numbers, dispatchers with no experience start at $12.50, and they receive 50 cent raises at three months, six months, and after graduating from the academy. Those with experience start at $13 per hour and get the same raises in the same pay period. Merit raises are an option, and certifications beyond the academy raise their pay another 25 cents per certification.

Fields’ data states other dispatchers in the region are being paid on average $23 per hour.

To help retain those the county has paid to train, the court now requires those individuals to remain with Pendleton three years before moving on.

While Fields implied in his social media notice that the drop in landlines for the county is to blame for the loss of funding, he stated later that was not entirely factual. “Cell phone fees come to the county, but they do not cover the cost of dispatch.” That is in spite of the fact those fees are 70 cents per line and cell phones are nearly universal; in fact, Fields says the county is now putting $380,000 into dispatch from the general fund even as the cell phone income rolls in. As he said in his social media post, “Increasing regulatory requirements from the State continue to drive the cost of 911 higher and higher."

Now, the question is how does the court raise funding in order to keep dispatch in the county if the decision is made to do so.

Fields says the committee reached out to the Kentucky State Police early in the spring to see if they would entertain the idea of a merger, and they just sent information regarding costs and the proposal.

The session Sunday night informed dispatchers nothing has been decided; the court has been gathering information to make the best decision possible for the county and for the employees, as well.

Alan Whaley, District 1 Magistrate, is part of the committee gathering information, and he confirms the court is not in decision-making mode right now.

Fields, though, is being conservative in his approach.

"There has been no decision made to move our dispatch services anywhere at this time.  We are simply in an information gathering mode. We are trying to see what would be best in a financial and in a practical sense."

Meanwhile, Rick Mineer, District 4 Magistrate, made his opinion clear. "We need to ook at all sides, but at the end of the day, it is going to be hard not to merge with KSP when it comes down to dollars and cents. The county will receive the same services no matter where dispatch is located. We as magistrates are put in place to watch the how tax dollars are spent.

He likens the situation to a family's decision. "If you could get the same cable TV and save hundreds of dollars, wouldn't you do it?"

Fields confirmed, "I don't want a merger to happen. When it was first proposed, I said I didn't want to do it."

He admits he sees faces; however, as an elected official, he is dealing with a fiscal responsibility as are all the magistrates, as he said in his social media post.

"These are the duties of the elected officials, watching the budgets of each department within the county. Good decisions cannot be made without good information."