By April Hunt
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Dunwoody could decide by month’s end to join the 911 center that serves Sandy Springs and Johns Creek.
The move wouldn’t happen until at least 2011, since DeKalb County’s newest city must give six months’ notice if it leaves the county-run dispatch system.
But if Dunwoody signs on, it could mean savings to the Fulton County cities that now subsidize the 10-month-old center, called ChatComm, from their general funds. It could also mean more control for Dunwoody, which already shares a border and some services with Sandy Springs.
“This council has always had one eye on achieving efficiencies by partnering with any neighboring community,” Dunwoody City Manager Warren Hutmacher said. “It will be a pure policy choice.”
The north Fulton cities launched the Chattahoochee River 911 Authority last September, after years of frustration with the county system.
The $5.6 million center on Mount Vernon Highway includes millions of dollars in specialized software and 46 trained emergency medical dispatchers.
The $1.50 fee on every wireless or land-based phone line in the cities was supposed to cover the $3.5 million annual cost to run the center.
But a miscalculation about how many phone lines were in each city left the center nearly $2 million short, so the cities are using general revenue to cover the bills.
“One goal would be that we would still have to subsidize ChatComm, but at a lesser rate,” said Noah Reiter, the assistant city manager in Sandy Springs, which transferred $900,000 to help cover the shortfall.
Johns Creek made up the rest. The cities would pay about a third less if Dunwoody signed on.
The cost to Dunwoody has yet to be determined. Beyond price, a main selling point is that the company running the center must ensure response times meet certain standards or pay for failures.
Problems came to the forefront in 2008, when a Fulton dispatcher sent an ambulance crew to Atlanta instead of to the Johns Creek home of Darlene Dukes, who later died.
Dunwoody had its own emergency-response problem in January, when a 74-year-old woman died in fire at a house that firefighters had checked five hours earlier but left when they couldn’t find the blaze. Ann Bartlett’s family is now suing the county.
But DeKalb will continue to dispatch its firefighters even if Dunwoody signs on with the new 911 center.
The city does not have its own fire department, so any agreement will be for its police force alone. Other cities like Doraville and Chamblee use a similar system where they dispatch their own police force, but transfer emergency calls for fire and EMS.
Dunwoody City Council will review the agreement at its meeting Tuesday night. It could take action at its July 26 meeting.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution