By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — County commissioners tentatively approved a 911 consolidation agreement with Salisbury on Tuesday, but not before one commissioner called the city untrustworthy.
Salisbury city officials say the document commissioners amended and approved was not the same one they said they’d support. City Council recessed its meeting Tuesday afternoon until 2 p.m. Monday, when it will consider the county’s version of the agreement.
At Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, continued from the previous evening, there was some confusion over whether the board was looking at the final draft. During a recess, the board was given a second version that still did not match the city’s copy.
Commissioners also made some changes to the document, mostly to broaden the wording of service quality standards.
In a 3-2 vote, the board approved the agreement to consolidate 911 services under the county by July 2013.
Commissioners Jim Sides and Jon Barber voted against it.
Sides said he doesn’t think the document’s assurances to the city about the county’s quality of services are necessary.
“We’ve been completely trustworthy in everything we’ve done with the city of Salisbury,” he said. “It’s the city of Salisbury that has not been trustworthy.”
The city “went behind our backs” to the legislature to become an appointing authority for the ABC board, Sides said, and it created its own tourism board because the county wouldn’t increase the tourism tax. He also criticized Salisbury’s annexation of the Rowan County Airport.
“We are going to provide better 911 service to the city of Salisbury than they have ever experienced in the past,” he said, because consolidation would mean no calls would be transferred between 911 centers.
Barber said this agreement is a chance to build a better relationship with Salisbury. He voted against it, though, because he had been satisfied with the original version and didn’t see the need for changes.
Monday was the soonest city council members could meet, because Mayor Paul Woodson will be in Washington, D.C. the rest of the week.
Commissioners said Tuesday that they can call a special meeting, if necessary, to consider any changes made by Salisbury.
“We have to start fresh with what they’ve sent us,” City Manager Doug Paris told the council Tuesday night.
Paris said he wants the Salisbury Fire Department and Police Department to have time to review the impact of the changes made by county commissioners. He said the city was happy with the version it was working with,
In order to apply for a $700,000 state grant to pay for backup 911 equipment, the county and city must approve and submit a consolidation agreement by April 30.
While 911 consolidation has been discussed since last fall, the issue has urgency as the county’s deadline looms. City and county staff worked well together to craft the proposed agreement, Paris said, and “we moved quickly on this as a courtesy.”
After the meeting, County Manager Gary Page said the city and county had already submitted a letter of intent to consolidate 911 services, but state officials said it didn’t show a solid enough commitment. The governments were given 30 days to submit a new one.
“If the city agrees, we will be able to use grant money instead of loan money to make these improvements,” he said. “The taxpayers are going to be the winners in all this.”
The negotiated agreement between county and city officials calls for consolidation of all 911 services with the county by July 2013. All services would be located within the county’s new 911 center.
The city would transfer the responsibility of telecommunications, 11 employees, equipment, maintenance and the overhead expenses to maintain a 911 center to the county. The employees would include 10 dispatchers and one dispatch supervisor.
As support for the consolidated 911 services, the city would pay Rowan County an annual payment of $50,000 per year for 10 years, totaling $500,000.
Commissioners voted to strike out a statement that would allow the city to withhold funding in any year if the county fails “to meet the service level and performance requirements of this agreement.”
Sides also raised concerns about whether the city would continue to require the county to pay $14,000 a month to rent its prime site radio tower.
He said city officials previously told him that they would give up the payment, and if they’ve decided not to, this could be a “carrot” Salisbury is offering to make that negotiation easier.
According to the agreement, Robinson said, the radio system and tower are separate issues from consolidation.
Commissioner Raymond Coltrain said the city could simply discontinue its 911 service, and the county would have to pay to take it on.
“This is something that the city does not have to do,” Colrain said. “They’re offering to contribute to the cost of this venture, and I think the only thing we should do is say ‘Thank you, and we look forward to working together.’”
The agreement also specifies that the existing city police telecommunicators would be primarily responsible for dispatching the Salisbury Police Department, and up to four new telecommunicators would be dedicated to the Salisbury Fire Department.
Commissioners removed language saying these dispatchers would handle Salisbury fire and police calls “at a minimum intent of 90 percent of the time.”
Rob Robinson, county telecommunications director, said he doesn’t know how to measure whether that standard is being met.
“We have a dispatcher for EMS, and they do that 100 percent of the time, but they also do other areas in the center if needed,” Robinson said.
Chairman Chad Mitchell said he doesn’t want to agree to a percentage that can’t be verified.
“We’re not trying to back off the commitment of saying that those positions are for Salisbury city fire,” Mitchell said. “But… we want to cover everybody in the county to the extent that they need to be covered.”
They also said they can’t commit to hiring four new employees in addition to taking on the city’s staff, but they will hire as many as necessary to provide the service needed. In the county’s 911 telecommunications department, it takes four dispatchers to cover one console around the clock.
According to the agreement, a Compliance Review Committee will be created to “provide oversight of the implementation of this agreement.” The committee would resolve future questions, issues and disputes and include representatives from both the city and the county.
The county board changed this committee from a permanent body to a temporary one. It would be established one year before consolidation – on July 1, 2012 – and continue for at least another year before being disbanded.
After the initial transition period, commissioners said, the current Telecommunications Advisory Committee can handle any procedural issues that come up.
Finally, the agreement states that either the city or county can withdraw from the agreement by giving a six-month written notice of withdrawal.
Toward the end of the county board’s discussion, Barber said he would like to apologize for the events of its last regular meeting, when Sides publicly called for the resignation of Rowan County Fire Marshal Tom Murphy.
“At least there were no calls for someone to resign today who represents the public safety community,” Barber said.
Sides interrupted, saying the conversation was out of order.
When Mitchell asked that comments be kept to the consolidation agreement, Barber countered that Sides should not have brought up the ABC board, tourism tax or airport annexation.

---

In other action
At its meeting Monday, the Rowan County Board of Commissioners approved an N.C. Catalyst Program application for Grateful Heart Ministries, which wants to expand its food mission.
According to planning staff, the nonprofit group located at 706 Dunns Mountain Road in Granite Quarry provides food, clothing, furniture and limited counseling to Rowan County families in need.
Grateful Heart Ministries is applying for $500,000 in state grant funding to purchase property and construct a new 50-foot-by-130-foot facility to provide space for food and clothing distribution and create a workshop and counseling space.
In other business, Rowan County Commissioners also:
• Delayed accepting a high bid of $35,474.75 for surplus property off Amity Hill Road. The county originally was given an assessed value of $47,736 for the vacant property, but current tax records show a value closer to $70,000, commissioners said.
• Approved conditional use permit amendment changing the operating hours for Buckshots, allowing the live music venue and bar to open on Mondays and Tuesdays and an hour earlier on Fridays. Owners said this is to accommodate pool leagues that want to meet in the game room.
• Approved rezoning of 2.66 acres on N.C. 152 near the Iredell County line from rural agricultural to neighborhood business, along with a special non-residential intensity allocation permit.
• Approved a special non-residential intensity allocation permit for Corriher Heights Baptist Church.
• Approved a permit to exceed noise ordinance standards for the Rowan County Relay for Life event at the county fairgrounds on May 4 and 5.
• Approved JP+A Architect to design the renovation project at the health department Smile Center.
• Authorized environmental management to apply for a $8,185.50 pesticide container recycling grant.
• Approved several budget amendments.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.
Twitter: twitter.com/postcopolitics
Facebook: facebook.com/ Karissa.SalisburyPost