City, county officials discuss future of dispatch

FAIRFIELD — Representatives of the City of Fairfield and Jefferson County continued their negotiations Tuesday on the future of 911 dispatchers, how the dispatch center will be funded, and whether the dispatchers will remain city employees or become county employees.

The Fairfield City Council and the Jefferson County Board of Supervisors have put forward different proposals for handling dispatch. The city council has proposed funding the dispatch center through a new emergency management levy, which council members believe will more fairly spread the cost of dispatch among the county’s residents. The supervisors made a counterproposal to turn dispatch into a county-run function, and have the dispatchers paid through the county’s levy.

The Jefferson County Service Agency met Tuesday morning to discuss these matters. The agency consists of two members of the city council — Doug Flournoy and Paul Gandy — and two supervisors — Dee Sandquist and Daryn Hamilton.

City representatives have expressed reservations about the county’s proposal to take over the service. Under the current agreement between the city and county, dispatchers are city employees paid by city taxpayers, while the county is responsible for most of the equipment costs.

If dispatch became a county-run function, the dispatchers could not simply switch to being county employees automatically. Instead, the county would have to post the positions and interview candidates. Sandquist said the supervisors would be required by law to do that.

“We have to post the positions. We can’t just transfer them to become county employees,” Sandquist said.

Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker said the city is worried that the dispatchers will not be guaranteed their jobs, their benefits or their seniority if they become county employees.

“Iowa law won’t allow us to do any such guarantee, and the county can’t guarantee it,” he said. “We want to make sure our employees are taken care of.”

The city’s two representatives on the service agency asked the county’s representatives to explain in writing how the dispatchers would transition from city to county employees. The four members agreed to meet again on Feb. 4.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com