Anderson rethinks dispatch center; council considers contract with SHASCOM

ANDERSON, CA — Anderson’s City Council on Tuesday will consider transferring its police dispatch services to the Redding-based center the city abandoned 15 years ago.

Anderson’s chronic inability to fill vacant positions means usually only one dispatcher is working at a time. It’s created a situation where the city’s increasingly busy call center is often overwhelmed by 911 calls, and officers are called off their patrols to relieve dispatchers, City Manager Dana Shigley said Wednesday.

Shigley said the proposal to move dispatch services to the Shasta Area Safety Communications Agency is a way of ensuring the city has enough dispatchers to continue directing officers to 911 calls around the clock.

She was adamant Wednesday the possible dispatch shift isn’t a sign the city’s going to disband its Police Department, a rumor she’s been hearing a lot lately.

“That’s entirely untrue,” Shigley said. “We value our Police Department a great deal.”

Though the city has allocated funding to pay for six full-time dispatchers, positions have been vacant for years. Shigley said it’s difficult to find employees who can handle the stress, meet the job’s stringent employment requirements and not wash out of their required probation period, she said.

There are three full-time dispatchers and a dispatcher-in-training on the staff. This means dispatchers are constantly required to skip breaks, and it makes it extremely difficult for them to take vacations or call in sick, Shigley said.

On Tuesday night, SHASCOM’s dispatchers had to fill in for the city since there were no Anderson dispatchers available, Shigley said. It’s something that’s happened a handful of times in recent weeks, Shigley said.

She said the dispatchers haven’t filed labor grievances about the staffing problems, but the topic has come up.

“We have agreements with them, and they get certain compensation,” Shigley said. “We’ve had conversations with them. It’s not hidden. We all know, and we all try to adjust for that.”

The proposal to transfer to SHASCOM wouldn’t cost the city any more money than it already spends for its in-house dispatch center, Shigley said. Over the long term it may save cash, she said.

The city pays $496,000 for its dispatch center. If the city contracts with SHASCOM, it would cost $501,000 the first year and $476,000 the following years, according to the city’s report to the council.

Anderson’s dispatchers also would be allowed to transfer to SHASCOM, but the city would have to create a records clerk position since the way SHASCOM handles its reports is different from the way the city does, Shigley said.

Founded in 1995, SHASCOM provides dispatching services to the Redding police and fire departments, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Department and local ambulance services.

Anderson originally was a founding partner.

In 1996, Anderson left the year-old dispatch center after then-City Manager Bill Murphy told the council the city was being overcharged because SHASCOM was overstating the number of emergency calls from Anderson.

“Perhaps as Anderson grows, the SHASCOM service would prove to be economical,” Murphy told the council in a memo at the time.

According to its website, SHASCOM is budgeted for 34 full-time dispatchers, five supervisors and five managers, though the agency is almost always recruiting to fill vacant positions.

SHASCOM director Joy Willis said four positions have been frozen, and only one position that can be filled remains vacant.

“We have a pretty stable staff,” Willis said.

Willis declined to discuss Anderson’s entry into her agency until after the City Council’s meeting, though she did say her board of directors, which includes the Redding police and fire chiefs, sheriff and city and county managers, support the proposal.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection handles fire-related calls for the Anderson area, so that wouldn’t change under the proposed shift.

The California Highway Patrol has its own local dispatch center.

Read the story here.

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