Collegedale agrees to join consolidated county 911 system

The Collegedale City Commission voted during its Monday night meeting to join the county’s unified 911 emergency dispatch system.

Mayor John Turner said city officials were contacted in mid-November by the new 911 unification board about the city’s cost to participate in the emergency call system.

“They proposed our annual cost would be $83,000, more than a doubling of our current $35,000,” Mr. Turner said.

He said officials from Collegedale, Red Bank and Signal Mountain resisted similar increases for fire, police and emergency medical dispatch services and reached an agreement with the 911 board to spread the increases over a period of years.

“It is a delay in the implementation of that fee,” Mr. Turner said.

The fee increase will include an annual credit for each of the next five years, he said. That credit will mean 911 service for the fiscal year that begins July 1 will be $31,000. It will increase to $39,000 the following fiscal year, $51,000 in the third year, $63,000 the fourth year and reach $83,000 in the fifth year. Collegedale, like Red Bank and Signal Mountain, also will gain representation on the 911 board.

Representatives of Hamilton County, Chattanooga and East Ridge in January combined their dispatch services. The two municipalities will see a reduction in their annual costs while consolidated service will cost the county no more, Collegedale City Attorney Sam Elliott said.

He said the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department no longer will offer 911 dispatch service to Collegedale.

The municipalities of Lookout Mountain and Soddy-Daisy will continue to operate their own, independent call centers and have no plans to join the unified 911 service, said Collegedale City Manager Ted Rogers.

Mr. Turner said it would have cost Collegedale $1.5 million for equipment to start its own 911 system.

In addition to the start-up costs of equipment, Collegedale Police Chief Dennis Cramer said it probably would require hiring six people to man the phones on an around-the-clock basis.

Vice Mayor Tim Johnson was absent from the meeting, but commissioners Fred Fuller, Larry Hanson and Harry Hodgdon joined the mayor in unanimous approval of joining the unified 911 service.

“This is basically the best we can do,” Mr. Elliott said.