A new task force to establish how Fayetteville and Cumberland County will merge their 911 systems made several decisions on Tuesday as to how that might happen.
The city-county 911 Consolidation Taskforce met for the first time on Tuesday following a tense summer between the City Council and county Board of Commissioners on whether and how they would combine their 911 centers into a single operation for efficiency and to save taxpayer money.
The two governments have talked since 2007 about merging 911 call centers, but could never agree on whether the city or county would operate the combined facility. After a state lawmaker, at the county’s request, proposed a law in June to force the merger and to let the county run the combined 911 center, the city and county agreed to merge. The task force will establish how the combined center will be governed and other details to get the merger underway.
Fayetteville’s 911 center is downtown and dispatches emergency responders inside city limits. Cumberland County’s facility is on Executive Place near Harris Teeter on Raeford Road. It dispatches calls outside city limits, and to Hope Mills, Spring Lake, and the small towns in the county.
The task force decided:
- The city and county will partner under an initial five-year contract called an interlocal agreement.
- Fayetteville and Cumberland County will each retain ownership of their land and buildings connected to the joint arrangement.
- The joint 911 center will have a nine-person governing board, with seven voting members.
The nine members of the governing board will include three people selected by the city, including the mayor or his designee; three people selected by the county, including the chair of the Board of Commissioners, or his designee; and a representative from Fort Bragg. The city and county managers will also have non-voting seats on the board.
Fort Bragg has its own 911 system and is not part of the merger effort, but the city and county have previously discussed including the military base in the combined 911 center.
The task force also discussed hiring a consultant to aid in the merger.
None of these decisions are final until the City Council and County Board of Commissioners approve them.
The city’s members of the 911 Consolidation Taskforce are Mayor Mitch Colvin, Mayor Pro Tem Derrick Thompson, and Councilmember Deno Hondros. The county’s members are Chair Kirk deViere, Vice Chair Veronica Jones, and Commissioner Henry Tyson.
The 911 Consolidation Taskforce is next scheduled to meet at 3:30 p.m. in City Hall, which is at 433 Hay St. A city news release said the group plans to review 911 operations that have merged, discuss potential consultants, and other matters for the merger.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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