At Monday's Huntersville Town Board meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to give Town Manager Greg Ferguson the authority to notify Cornelius of the town's intent to withdraw from its partnership in the operation of the North Mecklenburg Communications Center, the Cornelius-based call facility responsible for responding to 911 calls in Cornelius, Huntersville and the Davidson College campus and dispatching officers to police emergencies.
The notification is required under the terms of the interlocal agreement that regulates the NMCC's operation. Partners in the agreement are obligated to give the others at least six month's notice of plans to withdraw from the agreement. If Huntersville plans to adopt another approach to 911 services by budget time in June 2012, the notification would be required by December.
Huntersville has been investigating other avenues for 911 police dispatch services since mid-summer when the interlocal agreement was renewed despite a testy debate about the funding mechanics. In addition to the town's lingering discontent about the financial terms of the interlocal, changes in state funding reimbursements for 911 operations, which would result in escalating costs for the town under the current arrangement, were also a factor in fueling efforts to find an alternative.
A presentation to commissioners by Police Chief Phil Potter prior to Monday's meeting provided the final push to convince commissioners other options were available. Potter's report detailed costs, benefits, liabilities and shortcomings of different options, including the continued partnership with Cornelius, before urging commissioners to pursue a dispatch agreement with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
In the closing statement of his nine-page report, Potter was succinct and direct in urging commissioners to "give the town manager and police chief the authority to move forward with efforts to bring back to the Town Board a contract ... to move HPD to CMPD Dispatch as soon as possible in order to be operational on July 1, 2012, which will coordinate well with the potential opening of the new HPD facility.
"As the police chief," Potter's report concluded, "I am very comfortable with this recommended change as being a better fit for HPD for the near and long term future."
A change in 911 service providers would end an 18-year relationship with Cornelius and, because Huntersville currently pays 62 percent of the operational costs for the center, potentially force Cornelius and the Davidson College Police Department to consider a change as well. (The Town of Davidson, once a partner in the NMCC, now receives its police communications through CMPD in exchange for responsibility for first response within Davidson's extra-territorial jurisdiction, part of CMPD's service area).
That change, like Huntersville's potential shift to CMPD dispatch services, would be following a pattern apparently favored by state agencies.
"Ideally, every department would like to have its own 911 response and dispatch operation," Ferguson said the morning after the meeting, "but from a financial standpoint, that scenario is really no longer practical."
Ferguson said the trend is toward more regional dispatch centers and the changes in reimbursement further encourage that approach.
"The previous reimbursement formula for 911 operations basically followed a dollar-for-dollar format," Ferguson said, referring to the amount of money distributed back to municipalities from 911 fees collected on all telephone bills, "but that has changed dramatically."
In addition, according to Potter's report, any Public Service Answering Points (the law enforcement description for call centers) created after July 1, 2008, would not be eligible for any state 911 funding, which makes the establishment of a Huntersville 911 center impractical and, in realistic financial terms, virtually impossible.
Potter's estimates indicate that in addition to the $1 to $2 million it would take to establish and equip a Huntersville 911 center, the operating costs, with no reimbursements from the state, would be nearly $800,000 a year. By comparison, continuing under the current arrangement with Cornelius would cost the town an estimated $450,000 annually.
In both scenarios, Potter explained, the town would also face the continuing financial obligations generated by the required implementation of technology, infrastructure, personnel, training and operations enhancements for PSAPs and police communication centers statewide.
Contracting for the services through CMPD will cost Huntersville $262,676 each year, with funds built in for regular maintenance and a much smaller role in sharing the costs for required future system upgrades.
"In five years, we're looking at a savings of around $1 million," Commissioner Danae Caulfield said in voicing support for Potter's plan.
Potter's financial summary, which does not take into account potential cost increases but uses current numbers projected for coming years, indicates that the CMPD dispatch approach is, by far, the most cost efficient, and may provide even additional perks. Potter said a transition to the CMPD's record keeping system would also save Huntersville money over a 10-year period.
"I do not see a disadvantage to moving to the CMPD system," he summarized.
Ferguson said the notification to Cornelius is just a required step while the town examines its options, but he added that the window on a final decision is not too far away.
"We're on the path right now to implement the switch," he said, "and there will be a point of no return in the near future. I think we'll have to make a final decision sometime in January."
In other Huntersville police-related activity at Monday's meeting, the town board approved a contract with Yates-Chreitzberg-Hughes Architects, PA for the upfitting required at the police department's future headquarters at 9630 Julian Clark Avenue. The town agreed last month to purchase the 26,000-square-foot structure for $4.225 million and the various renovations and upgrades in the contract with YCH are expected to cost approximately $916,000. With security system additions, fencing and other additions, as well as the potential purchase of surrounding acreage, the project is expected to cost the town slightly less than $6 million.
The Huntersville department plans to move to the new facility next summer.
Also at Monday's meeting, the board approved the authorization of funds to lease 12 new police vehicles. Ferguson said the department usually obtains eight to 10 new patrol vehicles each year, but skipped last year due to budgetary restraints. The acquisition of the new vehicles was included in this year's budget.
