MESA presents 2026 priorities: staffing, accreditation and radio upgrades for emergency communications

Chief Tom Sullis of the Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency (MESA) briefed the Indianapolis City-County Council Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee on Sept. 3, 2025, outlining staffing and technology priorities tied to the agency’s 2026 budget request.

MESA told the committee the 9-1-1 center handled roughly 1.6 million calls for service in 2024 and credited telecommunicators with phone CPR instruction that helped save 40 lives and with assisting in four deliveries so far in 2025. Chief Tom Sullis said the agency is working toward nationally recognized accreditation and improved call performance: “Since then, we've definitely decreased that timing. And so far, here in 2025, we are at 15 seconds before we answer that call,” Sullis said, describing the agency’s progress from an average 34-second hold time in 2022.

The nut of MESA’s pitch was that sustaining and improving public-safety communications requires both people and technology. The agency is pursuing CALEA accreditation, seeks to reduce hold times further (noting industry standards from…