Lapeer County 911 director details rising call volumes, technology upgrades and staffing reforms

Jeff Satakowski, director of Lapeer County Central Dispatch, told the Board of Commissioners that the dispatch center is the countys sole public safety answering point and that the 24/7 operation handled 59,437 telephone calls in 2024.

"This is the sole public safety answering point for the county," Satakowski said, and later reported that the center "fielded 59,437 telephone calls" in 2024 and processed 118,707 CAD incidents.

The report, Satakowski said, summarizes staffing and technical changes: average staff tenure is 8.4 years, minimum shift staffing is normally three dispatchers (with limited exceptions), and the center is using new tools to standardize medical triage and quality assurance. He described ProQA, the emergency medical dispatch software suite the center adopted, as an evidence-based triage tool with an auditable quality-assurance loop and noted a 50% grant match from MMRMA for that purchase.

Why it matters: Central dispatch handles emergency and non-emergency calls for all county residents and a wide network of public-safety partners. Changes to staffing, software, radio systems and fund balances affect response times, public safety coordination and the countys ability to maintain communications infrastructure.

Key findings and operational details cited in the presentation: - Staffing and retention: average tenure 8.4 years, median 7 years, with low turnover relative to industry averages. - Call volumes: 59,437 telephone calls and 118,707 CAD (computer-aided dispatch) incidents in 2024; busiest day of the week was reported as Monday, with the single busiest hour Monday at 12:00. - Incident mix: traffic-related calls were the largest category (about 18%); medical calls and patient transfers were significant drivers of demand. - Radio traffic: about 2,160,000 push-to-talk events recorded in 2024 and roughly 173,928 minutes of airtime. - Major incidents and training: the center supported a homicide response and participated in a full-scale hazmat derailment exercise; the office expanded training, created a communications training officer program and continued employee recognition. - Finance: 2024 revenue reported near $2.7 million, expenses about $2.3 million, with a year-end addition to the fund balance of approximately $381,000 and a surcharge account reserve of roughly $2.1 million. Satakowski said about $3 million saved in earlier Motorola procurement remains in the equipment fund and has been restricted to capital purchases.

Commissioners and public questions: Commissioners asked whether the dispatch report could be shared with library districts and townships; Satakowski said it could be emailed to local offices and printed for public display. When asked about hiring and retention, Satakowski outlined a multi-stage vetting process that includes resume screening, a typing and multitasking test, a behavioral assessment, a three-hour sit-alongwith staff, psychological screening, and a sheriffs office background investigation before HR processing.

Satakowski also said the center has been modernizing its systems to reduce on-scene processing time for major crashes by adopting crash-reconstruction software compatible with drones, and emphasized that some equipment costs (for example, portable radios) have increased significantly since prior purchases, making the fund balance important for future replacements.

The board thanked Satakowski and his staff for the detailed report and recognized the central dispatch team for work on complex incidents and staff retention.