Editor’s note: This story was updated on July 9 to add comments from state Sen. Tom McInnis.
A joint city-county agency would govern a combined Fayetteville-Cumberland County 911 system, but the county would be in charge of its administration, according to a resolution that the county Board of Commissioners and the Fayetteville City Council approved on Wednesday.
The wording of their joint resolution suggests that the daily management could change, as it describes Cumberland County as the “initial local government unit” to run the merged emergency service.
Each body voted unanimously for the merger resolution. County Commissioner Jeannette Council was absent. All 10 city councilmembers participated in their meeting, including three who took part remotely.
“Public safety doesn’t stop at a jurisdictional line, and neither should our commitment to it,” Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin and county commissioners Chair Kirk deViere said in a joint statement after the resolution was approved. “A joint governance model for our consolidated 911 center means the City and County are building this system together, sharing responsibility, expertise and accountability. This is what real partnership looks like.”
The question of which government would run a merged 911 center has bedeviled the city and county repeatedly over the years as they discussed how to combine their two, independently operated 911 call centers into one. The merger plans are in the interest of efficiency and saving taxpayer money.
The city and the county each argued that their staff and 911 operations were better suited to run the combined call center.
Merger talks, first attempted in 2007, renewed late last year. They petered out this year until state Sen. Tom McInnis advanced legislation in the General Assembly in June to force the merger. His legislation would put the county in charge unless commissioners chose to hand off the responsibility.
The City Council then proposed having a consultant evaluate the merger and make a binding recommendation as to which government would run the combined agency. County commissioners reiterated their position that the county government should run it.
McInnis, a Republican who serves Moore and Cumberland counties, gave the city and county a July 8 deadline to make a deal. If they failed, he said, he would seek to pass his law and make the decision for them.
A working group of city councilmembers and county commissioners, plus staff attorneys, met Tuesday to try to reach consensus, deViere said Wednesday at the commission meeting.
The 911 resolution approved Wednesday asks the General Assembly to defer legislation about the merger.
“What the agreement was yesterday was to get a resolution, the short resolution in place, to kind of slow down the process with the proposed bill in the legislature and, and to give the city and the county the, an opportunity to seriously work this out,” County Attorney Rick Moorefield said at the commission meeting.
Some points in the joint resolution:
- Within 60 days, the city and county will reach an agreement to create a joint agency to “undertake the business of a consolidated” 911 call center.
- A governing board of seven to nine people, appointed by the City Council and county commissioners, will oversee the joint agency.
- The city and county will hire a consultant with expertise in 911 operations to advise them on how to merge their 911 centers. Each government will pay half the cost.
- The agreement shall designate the county as “the initial local government unit for administrative matters” of the joint 911 center. The employees of the joint agency will be county employees.
Moorefield said it would not be legal for a joint agency created by two governments to employ people or contract for services. “So one of the local government units that is involved in that will have to take over that role, and that will be the county,” he said.
Some city services connected to 911 emergency service will remain under city control, the staff will remain city employees, and they will work from the merged 911 center, the mayor said at Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
These include the Office of Community Safety, a relatively new agency that dispatches civilians instead of police officers to assist the public in some matters, such as mental health, homelessness, and youth. Also, Colvin said, the ShotSpotter gunfire detection system, drone operations, and Crime Information Center, would remain with the city.
McInnis praised the City Council and Board of Commissioners for reaching their agreement.
“I am now going to simply offer congratulations to both organizations for finding common ground and bringing resolution to this long-standing matter,” McInnis said via text message on Wednesday.
“Governmental entities should always be guided by cooperation, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to serving the public,” he said. “When we work together in good faith, the real winners are the citizens we are entrusted to serve. This agreement reflects the kind of collaborative leadership that promotes the health, safety, and well-being of our communities.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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