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Residents and Whiteville police chief urge Columbus County to keep 911 center under county control and create oversight board
Summary
Public commenters and law enforcement at a Columbus County commissioners meeting recommended maintaining county control of the 911 communications center and establishing an oversight board with municipal, sheriff, fire/EMS and community representation to reduce risk of politicization and improve complaint handling.
Public comments at a Columbus County Board of Commissioners meeting urged the county to retain control of its 911 communications center and to consider creating an oversight board and an independent 911 director to improve operations and complaints handling.
A resident identified in the transcript as Lowry said the county should maintain control of the 911 center rather than transferring responsibility to the elected sheriff. "We just wanna support maintaining it under the county's control," Lowry said, arguing that control tied to an elected official could make the center a "political football" if relations change after an election.
Chief Doug Ipaugh of the Whiteville Police Department agreed that consolidation is generally preferable but recommended governance changes to improve oversight. "A consolidated center is always the most appropriate way to run the comm center," Ipaugh said, and suggested a board that includes municipal representatives, the sheriff's office, fire, EMS and a community member so agencies can "make a complaint" and resolve operational issues.
Ipaugh told the board that 911 is often the first public contact in an emergency and that early errors can cascade: "911 center is the first public servant that anybody's gonna get access to. If it gets it wrong to begin with, it's wrong downstream the whole entire time." He also warned that when complaints are submitted to a single elected official, agencies may feel they lack recourse if the official declines to act.
During the public-comments discussion commissioners also raised funding and governance tradeoffs. One commissioner suggested that municipalities seeking representation on a county-run communications system should contribute funding for operations rather than rely solely on the county's general fund. There was no formal motion recorded in the transcript to change the 911 center's governance.
Speakers recommended the board consider options such as creating a separate communications entity with a hired director, forming a multi-agency oversight board, or negotiating service agreements with municipalities.
No formal decision was recorded in the provided transcript excerpt; the comments were part of the public-comment portion of the meeting.
