ICYMI- Our News3 WISC-TV / Channel 3000 Investigation continued alst night at 10: DESPITE ADAMANT OPPOSITION, DANE CO. SHERIFF SUPPORTS PLAN TO GUT FIRST RESPONDER BOARD MADISON, Wisc.- Originally not intending to speak. Dane Co. Sheriff Dave Mahoney surprised the county public protection & judiciary committee Monday, telling them he supports Executive Joe Parisis proposal to gut the first responder center board of their ability to make public safety communication decisions, which includes the overseeing the countys 911 system. I think its important to because my name was attached to the memo along with the county executive, Mahoney said. Were not getting to the points that need to be addressed as quickly. And were not doing it because of the inability of the center board to govern and the county board who holds the purse strings. Mahoney was the lone supportive voice among a room packed full of nearly 30 first responders signing onto petition like blue-cards saying they want it publically know they are fighting Parisis proposal. The Dane Co. Police chiefs association is adamantly opposed to this resolution, association president and McFarland Police Chief Craig Sherven said. The resolution has the appearance of being rushed through in a hasty and arguably unfair manor, giving communities and stakeholders almost no time to respond to it. We are in strong opposition to the resolution. Dane Co. Fire Chiefs Association President Randall Pickering added, saying the county executive had been disingenuous with his example Milwaukee did not have a county wide as an advisory model for what he is suggesting in Dane Co. Milwaukee does have a countywide radio system that is shared by all the users, Pickering said. In the ordinance that created that radio system...it very clearly defines that this is a governance committee made up of the local municipalities, even though theyre not paying a penny toward that system. Currently the 13 member first responder center board makes emergency communication decisions regarding budgets, complaints, and most notably the countys 9-1-1 system. During the meeting, Parisis Chief of Staff Josh Wescott continued the executives clunky bureaucracy charge, saying the police, fire and EMS board members would be better suited to serve in an advisory role. The proposal thats before you blends those constituencies into one body that will meet monthly to provide that consult and direction to the 911 center director and county staff, Wescott said. But McFarland Fire & EMS Chief Brad Bowen, who previously worked in Waukesha and Milwaukee counties, said from his past experience Parisis idea will not practically work. Wed make recommendations as an advisory board to the 911 center. And they were never implemented Because we were simply advisory. The answer was no, Bowen said. If we dont have an avenue to workout change, lives may be lost and people may be hurt, former Sherwood Hills Fire Chief Keith Anderson added. This agreement has worked well for years, and now its finally fallen apart this year when some difficulties in reaching some target times was identified, I think not. Asst. Madison Fire Chief Clay Christian said. Armed with a preliminary report, emergency response data processor Priority Dispatch Corporation had prepared, Center Board President Josh Ripp called into question Parisis accusation the board had been slow to respond to response time concerns. Committee members studying copies of the report as Ripp shared the results showing, on average, Dane Co. response times were 1:46 when the new system first went online, because address data was missing. And they talk about in there that in other places it takes 30 seconds to get there. Ripp said. I was at the Center Board meeting that we discussed this. Whether we were ready to go live. Brought up the question are we ready to go? Ready to go? Ready to go? And I was completely assured were ready to go live. Were ready to go. And according to this we werent. Bad information the Center Board was given. One of the committee members questioned the timing of Parisis proposal, since it falls during the budget approval time. Wescott said the move has nothing to do with holding first responder budgets hostage. Parisi has been invited to Wed.s Public Safety Communications Center Board meeting at 1:00 p.m. in City County Building room 321.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 06:32:25 +0000