Subject: [NEXTEL-1] County takes step toward new dispatch

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 17:16:42 -0400

County takes step toward new dispatch

By FRED WOODHAMS
Times Herald

A committee of the St. Clair County Board of
Commissioners on Wed-nesday approved a
proposal to create a countywide
emergency-dispatch center and spend $12.4
million for new radio equipment.

The board is expected to vote Tuesday on the
plan.

County Administrator Troy Feltman is behind the
idea to form an independent central dispatch
authority that would replace three dispatching
centers run by the county sheriff department and
Port Huron and Clay Township police.

The authority would buy new radio equipment for
local police and fire agencies, allowing them for
the first time to communicate between
departments on the 800-megahertz frequencies
used by the Michigan State Police.

If the county board moves ahead with the plan,
Feltman will draft letters to cities, townships and
villages with details -- including a choice to opt
out.

To pay for the new technology, county voters
would be asked to pass either a telephone-line
surcharge or a 0.9-mill property tax increase. The
owner of a home valued at $100,000 for tax
purposes would pay about $90 a year with a
0.9-mill tax.

County leaders tried to get a similar proposal
passed in 1996, but the measure failed
overwhelmingly.

Commissioner Patricia Anger, R-Clyde Township, favors the idea of presentations
throughout the county to sell the idea of a dispatching authority to residents, similar to

what county officials did when they pitched the $32 million county jail about to be built
in Port Huron Township.

County officials are pursuing federal homeland- security grants to help ease taxpayers'
burden for new technology, although officials haven't requested a specific amount.

Originally published Thursday, May 8, 2003

http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20030508/localnews/262918.html