Thursday, July 5, 2012

Questions Over E911 Referendum in Lake County Remain

From the Lake County Post-Tribune:

A month after tabling a public hearing to determine whether to place a 911 dispatch consolidation bond issue referendum on the November ballot, the Lake County Council still has more questions than answers.

Lake County Attorney John Dull approached the council in June, asking that it schedule the public hearing for June 26. Rather than vote against it, the council split 4-3 in favor of tabling the proposal.

Although June 26 passed, the item appeared Thursday on the agenda at the council’s premeeting study session, prompting discussion but no indication of whether the council will schedule a hearing.

Under a state mandate, each county is required to consolidate dispatching services into no more than two buildings by Dec. 31, 2014, or risk losing millions in state 911 communications funding.

The Lake County Emergency Communication Commission (911 Commission), which reports to the Lake County Board of Commissioners, has recommended sites in East Chicago and Hobart.

Councilman Rick Niemeyer, who has opposed putting one of the centers in East Chicago, said Thursday the information necessary to make decisions has not been making its way to him and the other public officials who ultimately will decide how to comply with the mandate and how to pay for it.

“There’s information out there,” Niemeyer said. “But no information has been brought to me. I’m not comfortable with that. … The elected officials need to decide the best cost and the best locations.

“There’re a lot of issues here. Everyone seems to be throwing it on the County Council or the municipal cities and towns, asking, ‘Why aren’t you getting going on this?’ ”
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County Councilman Jerome Prince pointed out that it may be a moot point, considering Dull’s original request for a hearing appeared to be predicated on a strict timetable.

However, at the most recent 911 Commission meeting, Dull delivered a revamped interlocal agreement for consolidation, that must be signed by all the cities and towns under the same law mandating the consolidation. In it, he indicates that a referendum is one of the preferred ways to create a capital building plan for the two dispatch centers.

A voter-approved referendum for a bond issue would place the money outside the existing tax caps, allowing for the money to be raised without cutting into the budgets of the county, cities and towns.
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