By Tara García Mathewson [email protected]

South Elgin residents dialing 911 probably haven’t noticed a difference this week, but police and fire officials are working to iron out the kinks of a new dispatch arrangement.

Calls for the police started being routed through Kane County’s emergency communications center — KaneCOMM — at 1 p.m. Monday, and calls for the fire protection district were sent through Elgin’s dispatch center starting Tuesday.

South Elgin Police Chief Chris Merritt said everything seems to be working well so far, but he estimates about six months of transition to tweak any reception issues and align records management to the new arrangement. Behind the scenes, computer operations need to be improved as well, but after the first couple of days, Merritt said he is pleased with the result.

“We’re happy with what we’ve got,” Merritt said. “We look forward to a good relationship with KaneCOMM for a long time.”

There were eight dispatchers when South Elgin started planning to transfer its dispatch operations. Merritt said that number went down through attrition with a few people leaving of their own accord. Three dispatchers joined the KaneCOMM team in Geneva, two stayed in the South Elgin police records department and one took a position as a public service aide with the police.

Kane County dispatches for 17 other public safety agencies.

Merritt expects the village will save more than $200,000 each year without its dispatch center and costs will pretty closely match that. The major savings come from avoiding more than $1 million in system upgrades that would have been needed in coming years.

While South Elgin has been exploring this possibility for more than a decade, the change seemed especially relevant this year with tighter-than-ever budgets.

“Very few towns our size have their own dispatch centers,” Merritt said.

“It just wasn’t a cost-effective solution anymore.”

South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District will pay $55,000 a year for Elgin’s dispatch services, agreed upon for similar reasons as the police department’s.

Elgin Assistant Fire Chief Dave Schmidt said the new arrangement will make it easier to cooperate and share equipment.

“If we’re all on the same frequency everyone is notified simultaneously,” Schmidt said. “You get the full benefit.”

Residents should not do anything differently when they dial 911. Their calls will simply be answered in different locations.

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