By Fran Spielman and Frank Main
The Chicago Sun-Times
CHICAGO — Dozens of call takers at Chicago’s 911 emergency center made more than $20,000 in overtime last year — with one earning a whopping $90,000 — proof that chronic understaffing remains a problem.
As far back as 2003, the center was under fire for delays in dispatching calls because of understaffing.
That year, Kevin Gavin — a 17-year-old honor student and varsity football player at Morgan Park High School — was beaten in the head with an aluminum bat. The city allegedly took four minutes to call an ambulance, which took an additional 11 minutes to reach him. Gavin died five days later, and his family sued.
The city found no fault but in January agreed to settle for $100,000, partly because of the risk of losing the case because of Gavin’s young age, a Law Department spokeswoman said.
Patrick Walsh, an attorney for the Gavins, said the city has been on notice since 1998 that there was an understaffing problem in the 911 center.
“That was from their own task force report,” Walsh said. “I don’t have any information it was remedied since.”
In 2009, more than 60 operators at the 911 center each earned more than $20,000 in overtime pay, city records show. Leading the pack was Archie Tiner, whose six-figure overtime was highlighted by the Sun-Times in 2005 and 2007. Tiner racked up $90,552 in overtime in 2009, more than his $77,784 annual salary. He was followed by Georgine Murray with $85,711 and Sherman Brown with $78,508.
The 911 center paid out $4.5 million in overtime in 2009 and $5.9 million in 2008, said Jennifer Martinez, spokeswoman for the center. Overtime for January and February 2010 was down 40 percent over the same period last year, but “it is not realistic to say that we will be able to eliminate overtime completely,” she said.
Martinez defended the center’s operators, saying they were above national standards last year for answering calls in less than 10 seconds.
Last year, there were 38 vacancies — a 7 percent vacancy rate, Martinez said. Now there are 48 vacancies, but most are expected to be filled by June, she said.
To address the situation, the city has taken 24 vacant positions from other parts of the 911 center and reclassified them as call takers, Martinez said.
Understaffing was blamed in the death of Gavin, who was beaten May 31, 2003, as he tried to break up a fight over a girl in the 3500 block of West 85th.
His family’s lawsuit claimed the 911 center answered a call seeking medical help at 6:03 p.m., and an ambulance was not dispatched until 6:07 p.m.
The ambulance did not reach Gavin for an additional 11 minutes — five minutes longer than the city’s average response time — even though it was housed 1.1 miles away, the lawsuit claimed.
Records show the city agreed to pay $250,000 in 2007 to settle one lawsuit alleging an emergency dispatching delay and $1 million in 2002 to settle another case claiming a man bled to death while waiting 45 minutes for an ambulance.
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