Livingston County Central Dispatch hopes to provide a higher level of service to residents with the creation of a new position.

Livingston County 911 over the past several years has earned accreditations for providing services in Emergency Medical, Police and Fire Dispatch. In a memo to the County’s Board of Commissioners, 911 Director Chad Chewning says the honors depict the high-quality of performance they have set as standard for providing emergency and non-emergency services to the community.

But, Chewning says as they’ve continued to increase services and train new staff, it’s become difficult to provide the training and feedback that dispatchers need to continue providing that high level of service. Training and call-review duties have been shared thus far by 911’s management team and full-time Quality Improvement Specialist, though it is said to be causing a strain on both the administration and operations of the center.

911 has also contracted services out through Priority Dispatch’s National Q division to assist in reviewing calls for all three of the emergency dispatch disciplines; however, Chewning says there is a lack of consistent quality call-reviewing from National Q, and that the company is unable to provide feedback in a timely manner. Chewning reports National Q runs two to three weeks behind, while Dispatch is taking an average of 400 to 450 calls per day. He says they need to be reviewing more than just the minimum required number of calls and providing feedback on them at a much faster turnaround time to provide training and improve poor performance.

As a result, Chewning has proposed eliminating a full-time dispatcher position and instead creating a part-time Quality Improvement Specialist position. The position would be an in-house, onsite role to fulfill the current needs of training and dispatch call-review and follow-up. Based on the job's description, the part-time Improvement Specialist would be responsible for "participating in strategic long range planning to develop department goals, management philosophy, policies and resource utilization to provide effective 911 customer service to the community". They will also be responsible for the research, development and implementation of the quality improvement program, and will participate in the day-to-day operations of the dispatch center including recruitment, hiring process, and observing and evaluating floor personnel.

A proposed resolution authorizing the change came before the Board of Commissioners at a recent meeting and was approved. The elimination of the dispatcher position, as well as no longer contracting National Q, will be a cost-savings to the department. The position is now posted and can be found at the link below. (DK)