Kokomo — Howard County commissioners have announced they are in total support of the recommendation for merging dispatch services within the county.
The recommendation was made Tuesday by the Citizen’s Committee for Consolidation to Kokomo and Howard County officials. Its suggestion for merging the dispatch centers calls for the sheriff to operate the service, which would have a budget of $1.4 million. Funding would be based on where emergency calls originated.
The recommended funding split was 70 percent from Kokomo and 30 percent from the remainder of Howard County. Following the presentation of the recommendations, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight clearly showed he didn’t like the recommendations. City officials had said they wanted the funding allocation based on population.
E-mails to the mayor seeking comment on the committee’s recommendation were unanswered.
In a statement issued Thursday, the commissioners expressed unanimous support of the recommendation and indicated they were looking forward to working with the city to implement a more efficient dispatch center.
The commissioners intend to meet this week with Sheriff Marty Talbert and Nick Capozzoli, director of the county dispatch, to start work on an interlocal agreement incorporating the committee’s recommendations. They intend to present the agreement to city officials.
“All three of us are 100 percent in support,” Commissioner Bill Thompson said Friday. “In my opinion, we should do exactly as the committee recommended.”
The first step in the consolidation process, Thompson said, was establishing the committee and getting its recommendation.
“Our next step is to see if the sheriff is willing to take over the operation of the dispatch centers,” he said. “If he is, our mission will be to put together an interlocal agreement with the city as recommended by the committee.”
Thompson said like other department heads and elected officials do currently, the sheriff will present an estimated budget to the county council for approval.
“I don’t know if the budget estimate will be more or less than the $1.4 million figure,” he said. “The goal is to aim for that targeted amount recommended by the committee.”
The committee’s recommendation included a provision that both the Kokomo Common Council and the Howard County Council have to approve the budget for operating a combined dispatch service.