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Public Safety Committee readies for state police 911 closure, appoints county information liaison
Summary
The Public Safety Committee reviewed monthly call and incident data, appointed Carl Kiltz as Greene County information liaison officer, and discussed a planned Oct. 23 closure of the state police 911 answering point that will route calls first to the county, then to Catskill PD and Columbia County if busy.
At its meeting the Greene County Public Safety Committee reviewed monthly public-safety statistics, approved the appointment of an information liaison officer, and discussed an imminent change to 911-answering arrangements after a state police desk closure.
Presenter Mr. Power reported monthly incident totals: 545 EMS calls, 183 fire calls and a total of 2,996 calls across all systems for the reporting period; inbound phone calls to the county 911 center were reported as 3,311. Text-to-911 usage for the month was noted as 32, and mutual-aid tallies listed EMS mutual aid 30 and fire mutual aid 13. The presenter also reported one hazmat response in the town of Cooksock.
The committee approved appointing Carl Kiltz as Greene County’s information liaison officer. Committee materials said the liaison will present a two-hour awareness class on terrorism and suspicious activity reporting, maintain communications with the state fusion center and the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, and attend related battalion meetings and an annual conference.
Mr. Power told the committee that the state police will stop staffing their 911 location effective Oct. 23; after that date 911 calls will be routed first to the county center. If county lines are busy, overflow will roll to Catskill Police Department and then to Columbia County 911. The county has worked with Catskill PD on the change because NextGen PSAP standards and staffing/continuing-education criteria mean Catskill cannot remain the first-line answering point under the new standards; Catskill will serve as a secondary PSAP to receive rollover calls and to effect one-button transfers for police matters within the village. The committee also discussed existing rollover behavior and technical trunk limits that allow Catskill PD to handle a limited number of simultaneous 911 trunk calls before overflow to Columbia County.
Committee members discussed text-to-911 usage and requested follow-up data about the legitimacy and outcomes of text-originated calls; staff said historic reporting has only recently isolated text-to-911 as a separate statistic but provided a monthly breakdown for the year.
Other topics included coordination of training and fire-education classes with neighboring Columbia County, planned improvements to CAD-to-CAD interoperability with Columbia County, and site analysis for additional radio-tower infrastructure to improve coverage.
The committee also heard a sheriff/police report listing 198 civil attempts, 134 civil papers served, 206 traffic tickets issued, 26 traffic accidents investigated, 67 arrests (including seven DWIs), 569 calls for service and 403 traffic stops; the department reported several narcotics sales indictments and recovery of multiple illegal firearms during a domestic investigation. No formal motion was recorded to change 911 routing; the committee recorded the state police staffing change and motions to appoint the liaison officer.
Votes and actions - Appointment: Carl Kiltz as Greene County information liaison officer — carried (voice vote; tally not specified).
Why it matters: the state police desk closure and PSAP changes will reallocate answering responsibilities and require local coordination, training, and technological interoperability to maintain 911 response reliability.
