Wednesday, July 23, 2008

BF Council votes to up funding for dispatch center

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Bosque Farms The Bosque Farms Village Council had a change of heart last week regarding the funding of the Valencia County Regional Dispatch Center.

In a 3-1 vote at its regular council meeting on Thursday, the governing body approved a $13,204 budget increase to help operate the facility. The council also approved, by the same vote count, a resolution supporting Valencia County seeking a quarter percent tax for the emergency communications and emergency medial and behavioral health services.

Councilor Virgil Proctor voted no on both propositions. Councilors Bill Kennedy, Robert Knowlton and Dolly Wallace voted in favor of both issues.

During a budget workshop earlier this month, the councilors said they were not in favor of the increase, that they were displeased with the services of the dispatch center. The council also noted that it was not aware of the increase until early June, after it had already passed its preliminary budget.

At Thursday's meeting, Mayor Wayne Ake said he had been made aware of certain problems at the dispatch center only after the budget meeting. He told the council he invited Shirley Valdez-Whatley, director of the dispatch center, to explain why the increase was needed.

Valdez-Whatley told the council there were several reasons an increase is needed including an increase in the number of calls. She said the dispatch center is in need of three new positions to cover all the incoming calls, both 911 emergency and non-emergency.

Another reason for the increase and the new positions is because she's trying to implement a new system in which all fire and rescue calls are on a separate system from law enforcement. She said the current system is hard for operators and call takers because radio traffic sometimes overlaps.

She also told the council that it usually takes two to three years before a dispatch center like this is able to sustain itself and become productive. Valdez-Whatley asked for the councilors' patience and offered to give reports on the center's progress anytime they wanted.

"We need to stay in very close contact," said Knowlton, who also told Valdez-Whatley he appreciates the work she's done. "The performance of the dispatch center affects everyone here in the village."

Proctor said he wishes that the dispatch board had approached the village sooner, saying that the delay put the council in a bad position.

Police Chief Joe Stidham, a member of the dispatch board, explained to the council that they did begin their budget process six months ago, but because the Village of Los Lunas is their fiscal agent, they had to wait for its process to be completed.

"I just don't want anyone to think we weren't doing our job," Stidham said. "We didn't get those numbers out of Los Lunas until early June."

According to the center's operational budget, the center is also requesting that Belen increase its fees from $252,014 to $370,841 — an $118,827 increase. The county's increase would be from the current $364,814 to $538,532 — a $173,718 increase. The Village of Los Lunas would pay an additional $172,160. The village currently pays $365,128 into the system and, if approved, it would then may $537,288.

In other action, the council: