State Sen. Tom McInnis granted Fayetteville and Cumberland County nine more days to reach an agreement on how they will combine their two 911 call centers into a single operation.
McInnis, a Republican who represents Moore and Cumberland counties, extended his deadline to 11:59 p.m. on July 8, the county said. His previous deadline was 5 p.m. on Monday.
If McInnis’ deadline isn’t met, he plans to renew his attempt to pass a law to force the merger, he told CityView on Wednesday.
Since 2007, the city and county have tried to merge their 911 call centers to save money and improve services. But they have always been at loggerheads on who would run the joint 911 center. Each wants the day-to-day, administrative control.
McInnis got involved after county commissioners in May approved a resolution that said the county should run the 911 center and asked the county’s six state lawmakers to pass a law to make the merger happen.
Kirk deViere, chair of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, said he talked with McInnis and Mayor Mitch Colvin about the 911 merger dispute on Monday. Later Monday, deViere and Colvin sent a letter asking McInnis to extend his deadline.
“We briefed him on the progress that we’ve made between the city’s resolution and the county’s resolution, walked him through all the points that we have agreed to, and he was happy to see the progress that we have made,” deViere told the Board of Commissioners.
DeViere and Colvin’s letter to McInnis said that the two bodies passed resolutions last week about the merger.
“Each resolution reflects substantial common ground and a shared determination to complete this consolidation for the benefit of the residents we serve,” they said. “A limited number of final points remain to be reconciled into one executed document.”
The council’s resolution said the city and county should hire a consultant to make a binding recommendation about which government should run the merged service; the county’s resolution said the county should run it.
The City Council meets again on Tuesday at 9 a.m. An announcement for the meeting said the council will meet behind closed doors for a discussion with an attorney. Colvin said Monday he was unaware whether councilmembers plan to discuss the 911 merger at Tuesday’s meeting.
County commissioners plan to discuss the merger on Thursday.
Even if McInnis pushes 911 merger legislation through the state Senate, it will then have to pass the state House. Two of the county’s four state House members live in Fayetteville, and one of them is Democratic Rep. Mike Colvin, who is the mayor’s brother.
If the city’s House members disagree with McInnis’ legislation, they could try to stop it.
McInnis, meanwhile, could go around them by attaching the 911 merger legislation to another bill that is likely to pass into law despite any opposition from the county’s other lawmakers.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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