Lorain County 911 union calls out 'critical staffing crisis' in letter to commissioners

The Fraternal Order of Police Ohio Labor Council sent out a news release Thursday detailing "a critical staffing crisis with Lorain County's 911 dispatchers unit" and urging Lorain County Commissioners Michelle Hung, David Moore and Jeff Riddell "to act immediately." "Not only are there issues with the two-way radio system in the county but there are serious understaffing issues" at Lorain County 911, the FOP wrote. Commissioners said Thursday they are aware of the issues at 911, including understaffing, less-attractive wages than in other cities or counties, and a lack of buy-in from communities with their own police dispatching services. The FOP said dispatchers at the 911 Center on Burns Road in Elyria handle calls for 24 fire departments and six police departments 24 hours a day. As of April 16, they have worked 3,847 hours of overtime so far this year, averaging 174.86 hours of overtime each, according to the FOP. The unionized dispatchers are "tired, overworked and worn out due to being mandated to work additional shifts," according to the FOP. "Not only is this potentially dangerous to the public but it is also a danger to the first responders and a liability on the dispatchers personally," the FOP wrote. "When tired and overworked, sometimes the information does not get conveyed as quickly and accurately as required, which could adversely affect the service to the public." "No one wants to wait for 911 to answer a call while a loved one is having a heart attack or other medical emergency. No one wants to wait to get through to 911 while a burglar is lurking at your windows or lurking through your occupied residence," the FOP said. "No one wants to wait to get through to report a missing child or to have important facts misconstrued or improperly conveyed to police and fire due to human error caused by overwork and stress." Emergency dispatching is life or death, the FOP said. "The current business model for Lorain County's 911 Center is not sustainable, and the turnover rate is high," the FOP wrote, calling on the commissioners "to take immediate action to alleviate the dire staffing issues at Lorain County 911, for the well-being of our dispatchers and for the safety of the public and our first responders." All three commissioners said Wednesday that Lorain County 911 is an important, life-saving service. Thanking dispatchers for their work and for being "the lifeline" for those in need, Hung said former 911 Director Jeff Young had been working on early plans to expand Lorain County 911 into a regional dispatch center since October 2021, keeping commissioners informed along the way. Commissioners replaced Young with former Avon Lake Mayor Rob Berner on April 7. Berner's first day of work was Monday, and Young took another role with Lorain County EMA and Homeland Security. Commissioners and County Administrator Jeff Armbruster "have developed their own plan to move the county 911 forward," Hung said. She said it takes a year or more to train an emergency dispatcher and "it is a specialized set of skills that a minimal amount of the population has." Over time, Lorain County dispatchers have been poached by other agencies, and the county government is dealing with "a difficult economic climate" when it comes to hiring more, Hung said. She said she's trusting Armbruster to implement a plan and that he "will be accountable to the commissioners and the residents of Lorain County for delivering results and a successful regional county 911 center." Moore said the county's trained 911 dispatchers are facing better, higher-paying opportunities elsewhere, and that commissioners are working toward a "fully staffed 911 center." "We've got a great staff at 911, they're great," Moore said. "I believe they're underpaid. We're working toward fixing that. We need dedicated people at 911, compensated properly and not overworked." Moore said he had pushed to increase the county 911 levy to 0.75 mills from 0.5 mills. The existing levy provides 90 percent of Lorain County 911's budget and was last renewed in November. Phone and cellular fees collected by the state make up the rest. Commissioners discussed increasing the levy millage in mid-2022 but Young recommended working within the existing budget, calling it "a scary time" to ask for more money from voters. Moore said he hopes Berner, Armbruster and the county's administrative team can get "buy-in from the communities" they serve to get more city and village police departments to dispatch out of Lorain County 911. Riddell echoed Hung and Moore's comments about understaffing at 911. Current dispatchers are "doing a great job" but the county is underpaying given the current labor market. "We're losing too many people to other dispatch entities," he said. "That'll be a part of Rob Berner's new deal: How to stabilize the staffing and getting everyone in and paid." If all Lorain County communities were dispatched through the county 911 center, its budget wouldn't be in the red, Riddell said. The learning curve to be a dispatcher means "you can't just plunk someone down and have them answer the phone," he said. "We understand the issue and we're looking in some places we hadn't before," Riddell said. Moore also said he suspects the 911 issue came up because of the ongoing emergency radio controversy between him and Riddell, and supporters of the L3 Harris radios system. "The timing is suspect," he said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.