Elko County Regional Communication Center reports higher call volumes, training and several system fixes

Elko County’s Regional Communication Center reported on May call volumes, staffing, training and several ongoing technical issues during the June 5 Enhanced 911 Board meeting.

"So for, May, our total amount of calls was 5,043. April, we had 4,889," the center’s representative said, noting a month‑over‑month increase of 315 calls. He said administrative calls in May were 3,579 versus 3,529 in April (about a 1.42% increase), and that 911 calls rose by about 7.65% compared with April’s 1,360 911 calls. The center’s average ring time is 1.7 seconds and average call duration about 125 seconds; the representative said 99.79% of 911 calls were answered in under 10 seconds.

Staffing updates included one dispatcher in training and another candidate offered a position; the center expected to fill one more vacancy after current hires are trained. The board heard several training and professional development items: one dispatcher received a scholarship to attend the NENA conference, another is taking a center management course (CMCP), and a dispatcher is enrolled in a Chaplain Academy focused on mental health and critical incident stress.

The center said it is developing a 988 protocol with PowerPhone and working on phased implementation for text‑to‑911 and video protocols; Pam, the center’s training and compliance manager, is leading that work. The center also discussed quality assurance and training vendors: staff reviewed a Motivations QA renewal and discussed a proposed telephone CPR training add‑on (one‑time setup fees and annual costs were presented) and a demo of Vector Solutions, a platform to host policies, training and records digitally.

Operationally, staff reported persistent audio delay on office phones ("up to, like, a 45 second audio delay after we're on the phone for 3 minutes"), voicemail failures and a Spillman CAD connectivity issue where the dispatcher who created a call could not always see the phone number; staff said IT and Motorola are working on CAD/DigiPort connectivity. A six‑month stuck call notification on the center’s screen was resolved during a morning update the day of the meeting.

No formal board action was taken on these items; board members asked staff to continue pursuing vendor fixes and to return with updates as needed.