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Show Local radio dispatch center to begin next month by Christopher Smart Park City will soon have its own radio dispatch center for police and emergency medical calls, according to Park City Police Chief Frank Bell. Park City as well as all of the surrounding communities has been relying on the dispatch center in Coalville which, Bell said, is extremely overworked. He noted that, while Coalville has done a competent job, its services are extended across three counties and some 12 agencies. A Park City dispatch center, to be housed in the Marsac Municipal Building, will be more efficient for local agencies, Bell said. The phone number for police and emergency medical aid in Park City will remain the same at 649-9361. In addition to having the new radio dispatch facilities, Bell said that the city will now have a centralized phone system with an operator on duty 24 hours a day. All city offices will be reached through 649-9321. This will "minimize the hassles" for callers, whether they are trying to reach the Planning Department, Public Works or the police, Bell said. The central city phone system and radio dispatch center should be in place early in January, according to Bell. The new equipment cost the city approximately $30,000, Bell said. Additionally, the city will spend about $70,000 a year on salaries for the operators, he said. Bell said the funding for the new network comes from the current city budget. Some of the costs, however, will be recoverable through charges to various agencies using the system, he said. In the coming year Park City will get the emergency 911 telephone exchange that will be connected to the central telephone and radio operation, Bell said. The new dispatch system is "like a dream come true," said City Councilman Council-man Tom Shellenberger. He said that the city has been working toward its own radio dispatch for more than three years. Shellenberger, an emergency medical medi-cal technician (EMT), said the new communications system will tremendously tremen-dously upgrade emergency health care here. He said that it has been very difficult for the Coalville dispatch to keep up with all the changes in Park City streets and often it is difficult to locate an emergency with poor directions. Under the program instituted by Bell, Shellenberger said, operators will be thoroughly trained in Park City geography so that emergency services are more efficient. Shellenberger added that although he had been struggling for many years to bring a dispatch center to Park City, it was Bell who made the difference by convincing the City Council that this area had grown large enough to need it. As Park City and adjoining area continue to grow, those needs will only increase, he said. |
