And One More Thing To Add...

I was thinking about my previous post and thought I would share some of what is going on here in our little Bible Belt Corn Field State.

In an attempt to head in the right direction as far as a smaller government, our 'Republican' Governor has gone over board and to the extreme. He came up with a plan to streamline our current governmental system. He stated that there are too many positions that are redundant, therefore, unnecessary.... Streamlining the system and cutting out the wasteful fat... Sounds good, right? Wrong!

Each county in our state has an elected branch of County Commissioners and a County Council. I admit, they do have some overlapping duties and some restructuring is in order. Our governor has this plan... which is currently in 'readings' at the Senate for the bill to be considered... He wants to have an elected Commissioner in each county that would serve as a single executor, along with a board of County Council. But in this bill, he states that several of the currently elected politions... Sheriff, Clerk, Coroner, Auditor... would become appointed position, not elected... What?? Isn't that a step toward the "Good Ole Boy Days" where you give your buddies the job instead of a qualified person?.... Ok, a 'qualified' person doesn't always get elected either, but at least we still have a say...

Smaller government- Yes. Taking away my voting rights- I Dont Think So.

Moving on- Our Governor has also drafted another bill that directly affects me and my job. Let me set this up for you...

Each department that answers 911 is called PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). We have two PSAPs here in our county. The County Communications and my City... now that doesn't mean that each department only has one 911 computer. The county has two and we have one, and bigger areas can have more per department... The county answers 911 and pages out the appropriate departments for the entire county, except here in my little City.... still following me?

Ocassionally the County gets a call that needs to be transfered up to me, or vice versa. But for the most part, I take the call that I am going to be dispatching for. There is a lot I could explain but let me try to simplify this.

Taking the call from the person in need (or person close by) allows me to have direct communication with the emergency situation. If it is an extreme situation, I stay on the line with the caller and give pertinent information to the responding Ambulance.

The bill that has been drafted states that there is to be only ONE PSAP per county. That means that each county will have to select one specific agency that will answer all 911 calls.... here in our area it would be the County... They will gather all primary information, contact me and I will page out whatever City department is needed.

This is not in the best interest of the public due to a delay in reponse time and the fact that I will not be able to gather secondary information from the caller. Plus we all know how information can be distorted as it passes from one person to the next.

Another concern with this bill is what we call "roll over" calls. The County has 2 911 phones. If they have a big incident going on and both lines are tied up, the additional calls roll over to me. This also works if I am tied up on 911, a second call will go to the County.... when people call 911, they don't want to be put on hold. They want to talk to a real person..

The "roll over" also applies for technical difficulties. If there is some sort of damage... like the communcations center being struck by lightening and losing phones and radios- yes, this did happen while I worked at the County... and the County is unable to answer 911, the calls would roll over to me, here at the City.

There is one particular county in Indiana with 17 different agencies answering 911. This is wasteful spending and is an issue that needs to be addressed. But one county having a problem is no reason to make a blanket policy, going from one extreme to the other.

Once again, elected officials come up with ideas and get advice high-top intellectuals and fail to consult with those that actually DO the work. Our local chapter of the National 911 Associations has tried to stop this bill but have been unpersuasive. The bill passed through it's second reading and headed for a vote.

So if you live in the State of Indiana, write a letter to your area Officials telling them you are against this bill. Its bill 0359, 2008 session.

...ok, I just checked out some Bill information and the bill referring to County Officials reads that it is just wanting to put the question on the Ballot for voters to decide. It's bill 0312 so if you live in Indiana, be sure to vote against this bill... but its not on the ballot til 2010

Alright, Im done spouting off about politics for a while. Tomorrow I will get back to some lighter posts.