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Winder and 911 consolidation still on despite blowup at meeting

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Top Stories & Breaking News, Winder Archives

Wednesday, February 15. 2012

Comments (11)

A public skirmish last week between Barrow County and Winder officials threatened to disrupt the planned consolidation of the county’s E-911 and city police dispatch services. But the flaring tempers and a slammed meeting room door appear to have been much ado about nothing. For now, the consolidation appears to be back on track.

The meeting had a terse exchange between Barrow County Commission chairman Danny Yearwood and city officials. Yearwood left the meeting in a huff, slamming the door behind him. County chief of emergency services Dennis Merrifield was also upset with aspects of the discussion.

The conflict revolved around details of unifying the county and city computer systems in a merged 911 system. It turns out, the computer interface needed for the unified system had already been purchased by the county, something Merrifield did not communicate to those present at the meeting last week.

For the full story, see the Feb. 15 issue of the Barrow Journal.

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#1 Anonymous on 02/15/12 at 11:22 AM [Reply]

you simply can't write this stuff. What a joke...

#2 Really?? on 02/15/12 at 12:54 PM [Reply]

The ONLY reason I would want this to go forward is because as a Winder Resident, I am paying twice for the same service, I pay the "911 TAX" but the County who took ALL of the tax money was not sharing with the City who handled the City Dispatch, so therefore the city budget was covering that, I shouldn't have to pay that twice. I was fine with the City doing it's own thing, as long as they got their Portion of the Tax to service the portion they covered.

I got good, I would say Better Service from the City Dispatch, but if it isn't going to divided up properly then we should merge...

You see, We in the CITY could be FREE of Danny if we got our portion, did our own, that would be better it appears, the County looks like a walking Disaster in the Making....Constant Issues (headlines)..

I wanted in the CITY for a Reason: City Fire Dept, City Police, City Services... Freedom from the type Leadership (if you call it that) that the County currently has, temper tantrums and all.

#2.1 Anonymous on 02/15/12 at 02:13 PM [Reply]

It was and has been the city that did not want to participate in the 911 dispatch system. You (the city) do not pay the county fire tax that pays for the communications center. You have your own fire tax levied by the city.

You do, however, pay a $1.50 telephone or cell phone fee per line for the operation of the 911 center. And, yes they do dispatch the your Fire & EMS to the city of Winder residence...so, you are and have been paying for that service thru your phone lines.

This has always been a power struggle with the city and police department that did not want to give up the dispatching in the city.

#2.1.1 Really?? on 02/15/12 at 03:15 PM [Reply]

This may not be a good idea even if it saves the City citizens money... Jury still out on it.

911 fee(tax) is for 911 Operation, Fee is on any Landline and Barrow based Cell Phones.

Fire Tax is for Fire & EMS.

CITY used to Dispatch everyone, keep going back thru history. City has served us well on this aspect, it is just a funding issue, so WE proposed the merge as a savings. I am not sure it is worth the change.

For the Record also, was the city ever "invited" to partisapate originally anyway?? --Why is it not a City-County Joint Operation anyway?

I always got better service when connected to the City than any of the times I was connected to Barrow(Central), I had to explain 5X more, and they didn't seem to have a knowledge of the area, Winder ALWAYS "got it" very quickly.

The City may Regret this, I hope not, but I am very weary turning this over, the County has not proven themselves lately to properly handle their business. This business is lives, I am in the city for a reason also.

I feel like a got a telemarketer reading a script when I got the county.

#3 Brit on 02/15/12 at 03:51 PM [Reply]

Sometimes when things are broke you need to just salvage what you can and rebuild. It is obvious to many that the City and County can’t play in the same sandbox. So let’s look to build something that works for all parties. Winder FD and BCES need to for the betterment of all to work better together. The duplications of services is a financial burden that neither entity can afford. And unification is a pill neither want to swallow.

What can we agree on? I thing that everyone can agree that a means of delivering sound fire suppression, appropriate EMS and other emergency services; including 911 are not only necessary, but also create a better community.

Honestly things are so dysfunctional and current parties are so disunited that the best thing might be to toss a flag, handout a few game misconducts, punt the ball and start with a fresh set of downs... We need to do better...

I do want to clarify this both BCES and WFD have many good qualities, but together the synergistic possibilities would be a profound improvement.

Thinking outside the box might be the best thing to do!

Maybe a fire and EMS authority model is the direction all should investigate. A fire and EMS authority could be made up of either officers or representatives from the local stake holders in the geographical area (e.g. the county) in which the services are to be provided. In this case it might serves as an additional layer of governance outside of the jurisdiction of the city or BOC. This would be similar to the BOE...

In simple terms a local fire/EMS authority is a oversight body which ensures that a local fire/EMS service performs efficiently and in the best interest of the public and community it serves. It means therefore that the fire and EMS service is answerable for its actions and performance to the general public.
Funding would be derived from the collection of a fire/EMS tax, with all funds generated from EMS transports or other services being directly reinvested back into the services.

Just a thought...

#3.1 Longtime on 02/15/12 at 05:26 PM [Reply]

Gainesville Fire & Hall County work well together I am told, and work in agreement where that GFD will leave the city to assist or even take a fire if no Hall Station can handle it (i.e. Hall units of that area at another fire).

Winder FD used to fight fire ALL OVER Barrow County "back in the day" --before Barrow had the resources and before they became "big time" and both began to be separated departments.

I still believe EMS should have a permanent Downtown Winder EMS Station, which can respond to Winder (the population center) but can also respond from the center of Barrow County in any direction to back up any other unit or station, it just makes sense. I think it is/was politics and Barrow Fire not wanting to work with Winder FD.

I listened to an EMS call about 1-2 weeks ago, EMS was called to North Winder (in the City) and instead of requesting City backup assistance, called Central(911) and requested they send Station 5(Countyline) as backup. Let’s see 1.5 miles verses 7-8 miles, then pulls Engine 5 out of its district. Why? The County has a new culture of Non-Cooperation it seems. I hope we can improve on what we have going forward.

#4 Anonymous on 02/15/12 at 10:30 PM [Reply]

Why would Winder Fire want to merge with a dysfunctional Barrow Fire. The Winders boys are a top notch FD. Barrow is like a chicken running around with its head cut off.

#4.1 RetiredandGlad on 02/16/12 at 12:26 PM [Reply]

i wouldn't go as far to say that Barrow County is running around like a chicken with there heads cut off! I have worked in and about the city and county for more then 30 yrs. And at one time Winder FD was all there was, but times have changed. The two departments need to merge together for the better of all citizens. When it comes to responding to accident and calls. I know the county far exceeds the city in calls.

#4.1.1 Anonymous on 02/16/12 at 04:24 PM [Reply]

I sure am glad you are retired and gone. With your idiotic views. What does the amount of calls have to do with anything. Barrow could run 100 calls a day and that would not make them any better. Winder Fire will NEVER merge with Barrow Fire. Aint going to happen. And any elected official will loose or not win the next election that even mentions it. Ask Rodger Wehunt if you do not believe me.

#5 Anonymous on 02/16/12 at 02:57 AM [Reply]

Don't blame the fire and ems departments. Alwasy look at the leadership at the top. Merging the communication center is a good thing. Should have been done years ago. The present system can have costly consequences.

Come January, we can all hope things will change with the addition of a new county manager. Yearwood will be gone and so will his childish antics.

I might suggest that the city and county put this merger on hold until after the first of the year when there is professional leadership at the helm at the county.

This is too important to allow personalties to get in the way.

The citizens deserve the best system possible. The current system is not very efficient.

And nobody is talking about merging the departments...just the dispatching.

#6 Longtime on 02/17/12 at 09:21 AM [Reply]

I agree, the merger concept needs to be worked on, planning in place, BUT actual merger should wait until end of year.

It should be a "Joint Operations Center" really or the City should have its own console there maybe? I still have reservations about the merger, but it seems by the info that has been provided or told to me, that even though not ideal, that this would be the best path, save money...

I think the City & County should manage and run the center jointly, be both represented on a 911 board of directors or committee to keep any politics or BOC issues from affecting overall service. There needs to be joint oversight.

I want every dispatcher to KNOW the County & City Streets, I think if not immediately, there needs to be a minimum REQUIREMENT that a fulltime 911 Operator must pass a test (oral is fine) at a 75% rate or better, of where any location is in the city or county without use of technology. What I mean is, IF this is your chosen career, you should be able to tell me where a street is by me just naming it out at a passing accuracy of 75% within 1 year of beginning employment, just out of your head. You should already have an idea of the location & be able to confirm it with the caller, not play 20 questions before getting to the issue. I am not picking on the operators, just saying they need to know.

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