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Committee advances countywide 911 plan to reflect next-generation technology
Summary
The Public Safety and Governance Committee moved a resolution advancing an updated Hamilton County 911 plan that documents current operations and prepares for Next Generation 911 technology; committee members were told the update does not change current funding disbursement or immediate city costs.
The Public Safety and Governance Committee moved a resolution Tuesday to forward an updated Hamilton Countywide 911 plan that documents current operations and prepares the county for Next Generation 911 technology.
The plan, prepared by a county committee and updated per state direction, does not change current 911 operations or alter how state 911 device-fee funds are distributed, the city’s Emergency Communications Center director said. Committee members were told the county commissioners have approved the plan and the committee was being asked to “echo” that approval.
Bill Vitra, director of the Emergency Communications Center, told the committee that 911 service first came to the Tri-state in 1988 and the original county plans were created then. “Because of some technological changes that are coming to 9 1 1, something called Next Generation 9 1 1 ... the state [has] asked counties to freshen up that plan,” Vitra said. He described the current filing chiefly as a documentation update to reflect how 911 operates in Hamilton County today: “The plan itself is not a change in what we're doing today. It's more to catch up, that documentation filed with the state to reflect how 9 1 1 is operating in Hamilton County today.”
Vitra told the committee the plan addresses how the state 911 device fee is dispersed within the county but does not change the disbursement model. “So today, a fairly limited part of ECC's budget comes from that 9 1 fee ... but it's a relatively small part of ECC's budget,” he said. He added that the city manager and city staff participated in the county planning process and that the University of Cincinnati operates its own dispatch for campus telephones while maintaining a working relationship with the city ECC for on-campus incidents.
When Council Member Mark Jeffries asked whether the update would carry cost implications for the city, Vitra replied, “No changes in terms of implications, I would say,” and explained the plan speaks to existing funding flows rather than changing them. Vitra also noted the plan is part of a statewide effort: “All 88 counties are filing, updating their 9 1 plan with the state.”
Chair Scotty Johnson asked whether there were objections; there were none. “So item agenda number 1, if I hear no objection, we'll move that on for passage,” Johnson said, and the committee advanced the resolution to the next stage.
The committee did not record a roll-call vote during the meeting; the item was advanced by unanimous consent. The plan now follows the county and municipal approval steps outlined in the Ohio Revised Code for county 911 plans.
No immediate changes to local budgets or 911 service delivery were announced at the meeting; Vitra described the update as preparatory work for future technology changes rather than a policy or funding change.
Looking ahead, the countywide plan must be adopted by the county commissioners and echoed by municipal legislative bodies via resolution as part of the state filing process.
