A multifaceted emergency services consolidation is underway in Lake County, joining a dozen municipalities’ dispatch centers with the goal of providing quicker response times and more effective emergency services.
For over a decade, Lake County has been planning the consolidation of regional 911 services. Eventually, local 911 authorities, known as Emergency Telephone System Boards (ETSBs), will consolidate into a joint board, and regional Public Safety Answer Points (PSAP) will merge to form LakeComm, a first responder dispatch center.
Once the merger is complete, it will be one of the largest consolidated emergency dispatch organizations in the state.
Prospective LakeComm members include 15 fire agencies and 22 law enforcement departments. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office pulled out of the 911 consolidation plans in December after finding “significant concerns” with plans to merge the sheriff’s dispatch services with municipal dispatch.
The launch of a new Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system last Friday was the most recent step in consolidation efforts, streamlining how over 40 local law enforcement and fire agencies in Lake County receive and manage information.
The new computer software consolidated more than 15 systems into one. It allows 911 dispatchers to identify the status and location of responders in the field and effectively dispatch the closest first responders to an emergency.
The system will also provide dispatchers with greater accuracy when locating calls from cell phones in Lake County.
“The new CAD system is a critical part of the overall consolidation effort,” said Greg Formica, Fire Chief for the Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District, Chair of the Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) Consolidation Committee and Representative for CenCom E9-1-1. “It will help to save lives, protect property, and increase the ability for agencies to work together and share information.”
‘Partners coming together’
When an emergency arises, a 911 call may be transferred several times before a police, fire truck or ambulance is dispatched.
This problem, due to current dispatch boundaries of local PSAPs and emergency service agencies, prolongs emergency response times and was one of the key issues that instigated consolidation, officials said.
“Through a set of circumstances, we have a very disruptive police dispatching environment. And that has real consequences,” said Vernon Hills Chief of Police Patrick Kreis during a village board meeting on April 16.
During that board meeting, Countryside Fire Chief Chuck Smith shared examples of the current state of dispatch affairs in Lake County.
In 2016, a woman called 911 for a house fire on Hickory Street in Mundelein. The call was answered by Mundelein Police dispatch, but the structure wasn’t in their jurisdiction so the call was transferred to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s department doesn’t respond to fire emergencies, so the caller was transferred again to Countryside Fire District in Vernon Hills, who dispatched their nearest fire engine, just blocks away from the structure fire.
“It went through five or six minutes of transfers before the fire engine, which was about two blocks down from the house, was ever dispatched to the fire,” Smith said. “By the time they got there, that house was a complete loss.”
Plans for the county consolidation have been ongoing since 2013, through regular committee meetings with partner agencies, reports, and intergovernmental agreements.
Illinois law directs counties with a population of at least 250,000 and more than one ETSB to consolidate boards so no 911 authority in the county serves a population of less than 25,000 residents.
Municipalities involved in consolidation include Mundelein, North Chicago, Gurnee, Zion, Vernon Hills, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Fox Lake and the Round Lake area municipalities.
LakeComm will be separate from the county’s operations and formed as a separate government entity through an intergovernmental agreement, said Jim Hawkins, Lake County deputy county administrator. The contracts between the county and municipalities will define the bylaws, roles and governance models for the new agencies, according to Hawkins.
“It’s not part of the county, it’s partners coming together,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins anticipates intergovernmental agreements to form LakeComm and the joint ETSB will go before the Lake County Board and partnering municipalities in May or June for approval.
“We are within about 60 days of having some really significant decisions in our process, which is very exciting,” said Vernon Hills Village Manager Kevin Timony at the village board meeting on April 16.
Vernon Hills has been a part of the 911 consolidation efforts since 2018, according to Timony. Improving call time responses and reducing the number of transfers were two of the Village’s primary reasons for joining the efforts.
“The benefit is really to Lake County as a whole,” Timony said. “People don’t just call 911 from their homes anymore. Many times you’ll call 911 If you’re in another community that you don’t live in, and so by having this improved service, where throughout the county, everyone’s on the same system.”
Gurnee Village Administrator Pat Muetz said he sees the dispatch consolidation being particularly beneficial in a large-scale emergency, especially given Gurnee’s large attractions like Six Flags.
“If there was something big to happen, Gurnee’s dispatch center could potentially be overwhelmed with calls, whereas under the consolidated center, you would have those additional personnel in there to help answer those calls, direct resources, et cetera,” Muetz said.
The Lake County Board has signaled a willingness to loan $3 million in start-up costs to LakeComm. Hawkins said some of the other government partners have communicated similar commitments.
The funding model for LakeComm, however, will be sustained through a surcharge on telephone bills for emergency telephone services. The remainder not covered by the surcharge funds will be split among the partner agencies, Hawkins said.
Construction on a Regional Operations and Communications (ROC) Facility to house consolidated dispatch services began last summer and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Sheriff exits consolidation
In December, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office officially pulled out due to “significant concerns” with the plan, including increased costs for the department and a loss of services provided.
Concerns enumerated in a December letter to the Lake County Board from Sheriff John Idleburg are still outstanding with the sheriff’s office and why the department does not plan to move forward with the consolidation, according to Deputy Chief Chris Covelli.
“To meet our statutory obligations, we would be required to hire additional staff to take on responsibilities currently handled by our dispatch center – services that were not recommended to be handled by the consolidated dispatch center,” Covelli said. “Sheriff Idleburg did not feel it fiscally prudent, operationally prudent, or in the best interest of the community to agree to a long-term commitment without the most fundamental and important aspects being fleshed out.”
Covelli said an “overwhelming” number of sheriff’s offices across Illinois maintain their own dispatch center because the statutory functions of a sheriff’s department are “much different” than a police department.
“There are so many more responsibilities that a sheriff’s office has than a municipal police department,” Covelli said. “It gets hard to merge the sheriff’s responsibilities with municipalities responsibilities.”
Several years ago, DuPage County Sheriff consolidated dispatch services with the Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center and the county sheriff’s staff has since indicated the level of service provided by the department has “suffered greatly,” according to Idleburg’s letter.
“DuPage County Sheriff’s staff stated they wished they had not consolidated, due to the negative impact it’s had on their operations and externally to their community,” the letter stated.
Conversely, McHenry County Sheriff consolidated 911 services, but became the primary PSAP for the county, the letter stated. McHenry County Sheriff’s staff is “very happy” with the level of service they are able to provide under the consolidation model.
Covelli said the dispatch structure is already available in the sheriff’s office and consolidating other agencies under the sheriff’s umbrella “would not have been a tall lift.”
Opting into Lake County’s consolidation is always an option later down the line, Hawkins said.
“That has been a big part of the plan from the beginning. So people could join as they go forward,” Hawkins said
Covelli said the sheriff’s office would not be willing to join if the department still has to lose some ancillary services, and under the current plan, he said there would be a loss of services.
“That’s a non-starter for us,” Covelli said.
chilles@chicagotribune.com