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West Bend council names city dispatch as wireless 911 public safety answering point
Summary
The Common Council approved a resolution designating the City of West Bend dispatch center as the wireless 911 public safety answering point, enabling cell-phone-originated 911 calls within city limits to be routed directly to city dispatch; Washington County will remain a secondary answering point.
The West Bend Common Council on May 19 approved a resolution to designate the City of West Bend dispatch center as the wireless 911 public safety answering point (PSAP) for calls generated within city limits.
Chief Deering told the council the step will let the city receive 911 calls from cell phones placed within the city and route them directly to city dispatch. “This is very exciting, move forward in our implementation ... we hope to see go live actually later this month with the passing of this resolution,” Deering said. He added the change requires a formal release from the county sheriff and cooperation from the cellular carriers.
The resolution follows work by city dispatch and the IT department to implement Next Generation 911 technology. Deering said the NextGen transition was largely funded with state grant support and city resources, and that Captain Grinwald and staff have prepared the carrier notifications. Alderman Schmidt asked whether costs remain; Deering replied the city’s NextGen transition has been “fully funded … partially from a grant from the state” and that the city had covered remaining costs. Deering said the city planned to begin carrier notifications the morning after the meeting and was targeting May 21 as the go-live date, subject to carrier acknowledgements and final sequencing.
The council voted to approve the resolution after brief questions. Deering said Washington County will remain a secondary answering point and emphasized continued collaboration with the county dispatch center during the transition.
Implementation steps described to the council included obtaining an Emergency Services IP Network number from the state, sending carriers the resolution and routing instructions, and coordinating the county’s release of cellular 911 calls. Deering credited Captain Grinwald, the dispatch team and IT staff for their work to implement the NextGen systems.
The measure passed on a voice vote after a motion and second from aldermen on the floor.
