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Lake County committee reviews NextGen 9-1-1 timeline, GIS readiness and training changes
Summary
At its annual meeting, the Lake County 9-1-1 Program Review Committee heard that countywide NextGen 9-1-1 implementation is likely to begin in 2027, that statewide rules raise telecommunicator training to 12 hours annually and require QA/QI for EMD calls, and that county GIS scored 100% on Phase 1 validation but must fix address data to avoid routing errors.
The Lake County 9-1-1 Program Review Committee met June 3 for its annual organization meeting to review fiscal summaries, state rule changes tied to NextGen 9-1-1, and county GIS readiness.
Captain Kevin Benedict, the county 9-1-1 coordinator, opened the substantive part of the meeting with a high-level revenue and expenditure report and state compliance updates. "Overall, as a county itself, we spent $9,800,000 ... reported on dispatch services for 2025," Benedict said, noting the sheriff's office accounted for about $3.4 million and other PSAPs (public-safety answering points) such as Willoughby spent roughly $1.7 million apiece.
Benedict briefed the committee on recent state changes to 9-1-1 requirements, citing the rule referenced in the transcript as "5507-1." He said the annual telecommunicator training requirement rose to 12 hours — one hour provided by the state and 11 hours to be delivered locally — up from the previous local requirement of seven hours. He also summarized new QA/QI obligations for emergency medical dispatch (EMD) calls, including a requirement that approximately 2% of EMD incidents be reviewed for quality assurance. Benedict warned PSAP managers the state will conduct extensive audits (he said submissions and records would be due near the end of July) and asked PSAP managers to supply requested data promptly.
Committee members pressed for operational details tied to NextGen rollout and vendor compatibility. Benedict said county officials expect phasing to begin in 2027 and emphasized the county intends to implement NextGen collectively rather than have individual PSAPs connect separately. "We want to implement NextGen 9-1-1 as a county, not PSAP by PSAP," he said, and asked PSAP managers to email him the call‑handling system and version they plan to use so the county can verify interoperability with the ESInet operator, Solacom (also referenced as Solacom/Comtech in the meeting).
The committee then heard a GIS presentation from Caroline Peterson of the county GIS department. "We did score a 100% on our Phase 1," Peterson said, describing Phase 1 as the county's data compatibility check with the state's core GIS services. She outlined Phase 2 as the validation and reconciliation step against state master address and emergency service boundaries.
Peterson highlighted why accurate address points, road centerlines and PSAP/fire/EMS polygons matter operationally. Using local examples, she showed a parcel still indexed as "25 Public Square" where the best access point is on a different street and a library whose access might be associated with Euclid Avenue or Spaulding Street. "If it's the wrong address, there might be the wrong responder," she said, urging local addressing authorities to share updates promptly so the county can correct records and the state can validate routing.
Committee members asked whether changes to NG911 data would affect U.S. Postal Service mailing addresses; Peterson said USPS maintains its own dataset and the county compares and periodically sends updates but changing property mailing addresses can require owner cooperation or local ordinance. She recommended DATAMARK training and other tools (CycloMedia, EagleView) to detect and correct inconsistencies, and offered county resources including a NextGen web page, an address hub and the ability to supply CAD-ready data and large-format maps.
Public comment included Chief Troy Hager of Madison Township asking about the expected disbursement of cellular/VoIP revenue (he cited a figure around $600,000) and how the committee will allocate funds to jurisdictions that maintain their own PSAPs. Benedict said allocation changes depend on NextGen activation and geofencing; disbursements tied to jurisdictional call answering would not likely affect budgets until PSAPs are answering geo‑fenced devices, which he estimated might not happen until mid-late 2027 and therefore would likely impact 2028 budgets.
On operational policy, a committee member asked where to draw the line on pre-arrival instructions (e.g., compression-only pressure versus full CPR coaching). Benedict said EMD training is required and that PSAPs will need to decide internal policies and analytics for reporting as the state expands EMD tracking.
The committee received the reports, agreed to continue coordination with PSAP managers and Solacom, and adjourned by voice vote. The 9-1-1 coordinator said he will schedule additional meetings as needed during NextGen rollout and that the committee expects to re-convene before the county's full transition to NextGen.
