NORTH CANTON − Succumbing to public opposition and the prospect of being blocked by a referendum petition drive, council voted 6-1 to put plans on hold to end the city's police and fire dispatching center and switch to the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center.
Instead, council on Monday directed the city administration to propose a plan to restructure the city's dispatching center to make it more efficient and possibly save money, perhaps by not replacing dispatchers as they leave and cutting the number of city dispatchers on the overnight shift from two to one.
But such savings are not expected to come close to matching the $322,000 to $490,000 a year that would have been saved over the next decade by switching to the RED Center.
Support for moving dispatching collapses
Council members Melissa Owens, Ward 3; Stephanie Werren, at-large; and Christina Weyrick, at-large, who had supported the switch, voted to table the bill.
Werren said she was willing to give restructuring the dispatch center a try. Owens said she supported council President Matthew Stroia's plan to seek a restructuring.
Weyrick said before the vote it was time to look for other costs to cut.
"If we tabled it tonight, I'm never going to vote to bring it back off the table," she said. "If this is to be tabled, I don't want our staff to go through this again."
Council member David Metheney, Ward 2, who also supported switching to the RED Center voted against tabling. He said the city had looked at the RED Center's response times and changing to the dispatch center would not hurt city police and fire response times. Metheney said city police know where all the streets are.
The three council members who opposed disbanding the city's dispatch center and voted to table were Stroia, who made the motion to table and restructure the dispatch center; Jamie McCleaster, Ward 1, and John Orr, Ward 4.
McCleaster said he would vote again to keep the city's dispatch center.
"Outsourcing our dispatch services would make us a customer," he said. "We would have no control over future increases in cost. And dispatchers from an outsourced center will never work as closely with our officers as they do now."
On July 1, council voted 4-3 to advance the legislation to a third vote on Monday. Mayor Stephan Wilder said July 1 if council approved the measure, he would not veto it. He was absent Monday due to a long-planned trip, said Director of Administration Catherine Farina.
Emotional opposition
The climactic vote came after 18 people at the North Canton Civic Center publicly opposed disbanding the city dispatch center. More than 75 attended the meeting. Some called for the issue to be placed before voters.
Kathy Hipp, the wife of a retired North Canton police officer, expressed doubts RED Center dispatchers would know where her obscure alley street is. She suggested that she and her neighbors wouldn't vote for the bond levy this November to fund a new fire station if council got rid of the city's dispatching center.
"You are putting these emergency services in jeopardy," she said. "Because you are taking out the first line, the dispatchers."
Danielle Chaffin, an attorney for the North Canton dispatchers' union the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, addressed council again after doing so earlier this month. She told council the union will pay for an elections attorney to oversee the collection of the valid signatures of about 800 North Canton voters' petition signatures to put the legislation on the ballot.
Jeff Stocker was the only resident to speak in favor of transferring dispatching to the RED Center in Jackson Township to relieve the city's strained budget.
"RED (Center) is not some customer service call center that's located in some far-off land," he said.
But resident Bonnie Tewanger said, "I believe some members of this council are more interested in saving money than saving lives and property. If council votes to outsource (dispatching), you will lose my vote for a new safety center (the new fire station bond levy on the November ballot) and when my councilperson comes up for re-election, I'll vote to outsource her."
The audience loudly applauded.
"I don't know where the money has to come from," said Gary Fogel, a retired North Canton police officer. "Sell some land we have. We cannot lose our dispatch center."
Dawn Hearne said, "So please, you cannot get rid of our local dispatch because you're short on money. There has to be another way."
Ginger Chester said, "I came from a bigger city. We didn't have this hometown 'It's a Wonderful Life' kind of atmosphere. And I don't want to lose it. You don't have a right to take that from us. I just believe we need to look for other ways."
Ben Young, city deputy director of administration, said $1.17 million in cuts to this year's budget made by council on April 15 — mostly to government administration and the parks department — will get the city through this year. The challenge is council for next year has to find costs to cut to cover the raises the city is contractually obligated to pay the dispatchers and the city's other union employees. And safety makes up about 40% of the city's general-fund budget.
Young did not dispute Chaffin's statement that much of the savings the city would reap from switching its dispatching to the RED Center would be a result of union RED Center dispatchers earning less in salaries and benefits than union North Canton dispatchers. If North Canton goes with the RED Center, it would lay off at least five of its nine dispatchers, with no guarantee they would get jobs at the RED Center.
After agreeing to a raise of 5% this year for its dispatchers, North Canton would be off the hook paying its dispatchers contractual raises of 4% next year and 4% in 2026 if the city went with the RED Center. But Young said dispatchers who took other roles with the city to assist the police or fire departments with administrative work would keep their current salaries.
Council by voice vote also approved placing a five-year, 1-mill road levy replacement and 1-mill increase on the Nov. 5 ballot. If city voters approve the issue, the owner of a $100,000 home would have to pay $44.55 more a year starting with property tax bills in 2026.
City voters will have two city levy increases on the ballot this November. Earlier this month, council agreed to ask voters for a 25-year, 1.9-mill bond levy to provide $16 million for a new fire station. If approved, it would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $69.30 more a year with 2025 property tax bills.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.
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