The State of Ohio is kicking in almost $700,000 in grant money toward Scioto County’s much-needed new centralized 9-1-1 call center.
The cash is part of the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund (OTSCIF), designed to support meaningful projects for communities.
Work on building the new unified call center, which would bring Portsmouth, Scioto County, and New Boston police, fire, and EMS calls into one centralized location, has been stalled due to concerns over the budget for the new facility.
You’ll remember Scioto County Commissioners said that Sheriff David Thoroughman’s budget for the facility just didn’t add up, “We need to talk to our sheriff about what was presented. Because it just doesn’t add up right now for us, at least.” Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis said that while he supports the plan to combine Portsmouth, New Boston, and Scioto County 911 Dispatch into a central call center, he has a lot of questions about the plan.”
Davis said that while the plan saves money overall, it doesn’t specifically save the county money. “It needs to be a savings and an increase in efficiency. There’s a net savings but not a savings for the county. I understand that it’s a win for New Boston and a win for Portsmouth, but it needs to be a win for Scioto County. We’ll figure that out.”
At a meeting last year, local law enforcement and EMS leaders surprised the commissioners by showing up and calling for action to move the plan forward.”
At the time, Commissioners said it was critical to get a committee in place to help make the decisions and to see how much grant money was available.
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