There are numerous ways to dispatch an emergency responder — a fireman, for example, or a police officer or ambulance driver. Some ways are more expensive than others.
When I first arrived in Juneau, Alaska in 1971 as a young adult looking for an Alaskan adventure, I quickly learned about one part of the dispatch system used by the Juneau Volunteer Fire Department. A large yellow-painted horn, mounted on the roof of the fire station in the center of downtown, issued a series of very loud blasts that echoed through the streets and off the nearby mountains whenever a fire was reported, alerting the volunteer firemen of the emergency.
Obviously, this was before the advent of universal cell phone service.
How exactly the firemen learned the exact location of the fire after hearing the horn, I don’t know. I assume they ran to the nearest phone, and called the station for further information. Or perhaps they had CB radios installed in their vehicles, where they also kept their firefighting jackets, hats and equipment.
At any rate, we — the citizens of Juneau — could count on plenty of firemen ultimately showing up at the scene of any fire emergency. Another benefit of this highly public dispatch system was that everyone in town knew whenever there was a fire somewhere in town, and that our volunteers were no doubt headed there to put it out. It gave us a sense of security.
But times change. A few years later, the use of the yellow horn was discontinued. The volunteer firemen had been issued pagers, and no longer needed the loud, echoing blasts to alert them. I assume the pagers were more efficient, but I actually missed hearing the honking of the horn.
More than a couple of major buildings were damaged or destroyed by fire during my many years in Juneau, but I don’t recall hearing of any person being killed in a fire. In that sense, I suppose the fire station horn could be considered an effective and relatively efficient tool for dispatching emergency providers. We could also consider it ‘an economical tool,’ in a cost-benefit analysis.
But as I said, times change. Even in a small town like Pagosa Springs.
Back in 2009, Pete Gonzalez — then Sheriff for Archuleta County — convinced three local government agencies that the Emergency Dispatch operation, which had been financed for many years by the County government and managed by the Sheriff’s Office, ought to be funded by a combined government effort. County Dispatch had been serving the Town Police Department, the Pagosa Fire Protection District, and the Upper San Juan Health Services District ambulances as well as the Sheriff’s Office, but the cost of operating had not been shared.
Nor were the administrative decisions made cooperatively by all the agencies served.
As I understood Sheriff Gonzalez’ push to share the Dispatch responsibilities, the key issue was the money. But we understand that getting government agencies to cooperate on funding often depends upon an agreement to allow those agencies input on policy-making and perhaps hiring as well, in exchange for their monetary contributions.
Certainly, the County Sheriff had reason for concern about the cost of operations. In 2003 — when the population of Archuleta County was about 11,200 residents — the County budget for Dispatch operations had been about $310,000 per year. By the time Sheriff Gonzalez was complaining about his expenses in 2009, the cost of operating the Dispatch Center had roughly doubled, to $617,000 annually. While the population of the county had grown, over a five year period, by about 12 percent, the operating cost for our local Dispatch Center had increased by 100 percent.
Between 2009 and and 2019, the requested budget for the Archuleta Combined Dispatch Center increased even more, to about $975,000. More than three times the 2003 budget.
Our county-wide population increase, from 2003 through 2019: about 21 percent.
The increase in the Archuleta Dispatch Center budget, from 2003 through 2019: about 315 percent. That’s 15 times the rate of population growth.
On April 18, 2019, the Pagosa Springs Town Council was given a presentation by the Archuleta Combined Dispatch Board of Directors. The presentation reminded us:
The Archuleta Dispatch Center is the hub of all emergency response in Archuleta County. The Center takes ALL 911 calls within the County and dispatches the appropriate agencies. They receive over 8,000 911 calls per year, which does not include multiple 911 calls for the same incident. For every 911 call received they answer between 10 to 15 non‐emergency calls for service…
We’ll look a little deeper into the 911 system tomorrow.
Back in 2009, the County Dispatch operation was housed inside the County Courthouse, in what seemed (to me) like a very secure location. I can’t report for sure when the operations were moved to an insecure location in a strip mall next door to a nail salon. I’m guessing this probably happened in 2017, around the same time that the County government was trying to get the voters to approve a one-percent sales tax increase for a new jail and Sheriff’s Office — when Sheriff Rich Valdez announced that he and his staff were no longer safe inside the County Courthouse due to vaguely defined air quality issues that could not, for some reason, be validated by scientific testing.
Why an emergency department would choose to move into an “insecure” location next to a nail salon — instead of, for example, doing something sensible like remaining in a very secure location within the County Courthouse — was not explained during the April 18 presentation.
I’ve been attending government meetings as a reporter for 14 years now, and it’s very common to hear appeals for increased funding, new equipment and new facilities, without any real attempt to provide the public with unbiased information about operations and budgets. Rather, we typically get a one-sided presentation that promotes one particular (and often, very expensive) approach to solving operational issues.
The four key tax-supported entities urging a new Dispatch Center are: Archuleta County (currently planning a $14 million jail?) the Town of Pagosa Springs (currently planning a new $6 million shop facility?) the Pagosa Springs Medical Center (just completed a new $20 expansion project?) and the Pagosa Fire Protection District (just saw their property tax mill levy doubled?)
So… what can be done?