Revised bylaws for Livingston County Central Dispatch’s Advocacy Oversight Board are moving through the approval process.

The AOB board is required per the E911 Service Plan to establish the board, which provides input as need to the Central Dispatch director on topics related to public safety as they coincide with 911 policies and procedures. The Public Safety & Infrastructure and Development Committee of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners met Monday night and approved a resolution to approve revised bylaws for the AOB. The bylaws haven’t been updated since the implementation of the 911 center.

911 Central Dispatch Deputy Director Joni Harvey says the board has always been in existence since the 911 center was started back in 1999. She says the board deals with anything they do at 911 that might affect police, fire and EMS departments so it’s important they all stay on the same page and they all have a say in what’s going on. Harvey tells WHMI the bylaws are really to maintain consistency and make sure everyone is functioning together - adding Livingston County is great about that and this is just one of those boards that help provide that service. Harvey says the board has a certain set of members, which is for the enhanced 911 plan that is filed with the state and all 911 centers are required to follow. It lists specific members the board is required to have such as a member of the Sheriff’s Office, Michigan State Police, a local police department jurisdiction, fire and EMS. Each member also has an alternate they must elect to fill in if they aren’t there.

Harvey says there aren’t really any changes to current practice, they just updated the bylaws to coincide with that they actually do today and how the AOB functions today. She says there won’t be any big changes as far as how the AOB conducts meetings or anything like that; it’s really just to make sure the bylaws match what the practices are for today’s board. She added that the board was involved in making sure that the bylaws are consistent with what they practice today so it’s been a real team effort to get them done. Harvey says she’s happy to have the bylaws updated and it’s always nice to have everything clean and consistent because you never know when openings or vacancies will come up and it makes so much easier to keep the flow of everything moving when there’s something to reference.

The resolution for the revised bylaws will now move to the Finance Committee and then the full Board of Commissioners for final approvals. After those are obtained, the bylaws will be filed with the Michigan State 911 Committee. Harvey says that’s just to make sure the bylaws match what they have in their 911 plan, which is something they’re in the process of updating as well. (JM)