By Lisa Trigg, The Tribune-Star
Terre Haute, Ind. —  With its new Solacom 9-1-1 System installed and operating, the Vigo County dispatch center has experienced a smooth transition that should translate to faster call answering for people dialing 9-1-1.

The features include integrating all incoming phone lines to one system to allow for call transfers. For instance, Sgt. Jeff Fox explained Wednesday to the county’s 9-1-1 Advisory Board, a person who calls about a power outage can be directly transferred to Duke Energy, rather than having to hang up and place a separate call to the power company.

The new system has been up and running about two weeks, he said, and feedback from the dispatch staff has been positive.

“We’ve come a long way since we put this 9-1-1 dispatch center together,” Sheriff Jon Marvel said during a report on the upgrade. “It’s a huge benefit to the taxpayers as far as saving money on a city and county level, as well as saving lives.”

Fox noted that if the five dispatchers with radios and phones in the dispatch center are tied up, the landline calls will roll over to Indiana State University’s police department. If those dispatchers are also tied up, the calls will roll over to Clay County.

For wireless rollover, the calls will go to Parke County dispatchers. Fox explained that the state wireless system determines which county receives the rollover calls. Just as Vigo County will serve as the rollover for other counties, Parke County dispatchers will be aware that they are receiving a call intended for Vigo County, and will gather information that can be forwarded for a Vigo County response.

“The thing callers need to understand,” Fox said, “is that they can’t hang up. Callers will hear a series of rings before 9-1-1 hears the call, but that should only take about four seconds. If a dispatcher is busy, it may take up to 30 seconds to answer another call.

“Thirty seconds might seem like forever when you’re on the phone and you need help,” Fox acknowledged, “but if the caller hangs up, we still get the incoming call and there’s no one there, then we have to call that number back to see what’s wrong. And if the caller is trying to call us again, the we’re just playing phone tag.”

“In the old system, I had no idea if a dispatcher failed to answer or if the calls are rolling elsewhere,” Fox said. “So now, we can see if a dispatcher is missing calls and if so, we can address that with the dispatchers.”

The advisory board also learned that the position of 9-1-1 director has been advertised, and resumes are expected to start rolling in. Board members, which represent emergency response agencies throughout the county, will likely meet in December to go through the résumés and send out requests for applications from those who best fit the position’s requirements.

The 9-1-1 director position is posted on the county website at www.vigocounty.in.gov.

And, as requested by the county council, the salaries for two dispatcher positions and the 9-1-1 director will be paid in 2011 from the 9-1-1 funds.

Currently, only two 9-1-1 staff positions and two part-time positions are paid from that fund. But with this fall’s increase in the 9-1-1 surcharge paid by all landline and cell phone users, the 9-1-1 funds should have enough income to take on those additional salaries.

That means two salaries, totaling more than $80,000 including benefits, will be removed from the county’s general operating fund.

Posted with permission of The TribStar.