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Dispatch policy reviewed; Shelby chief offers mutual-aid agreement to improve Polk County response times
Summary
At a Polk County commissioners meeting, a representative of the Columbus and Platte County Joint Communication Center explained that dispatch follows district boundaries; Shelby Fire Chief Eller said some Polk County areas could be served faster by Shelby and offered to discuss an automatic mutual-aid agreement.
Rachel Pensick, representing the Columbus and Platte County Joint Communication Center, told the Polk County Board of Commissioners that the center’s policy is to dispatch emergency personnel based on the fire and rescue district where the emergency occurs rather than on caller preference.
Shelby Fire Chief Eller told commissioners that the southern areas of the Duncan Fire District that lie in Polk County "could be served in a more timely manner by the Shelby fire department and ambulance crew" and said he is willing to discuss an automatic mutual aid agreement with the Duncan fire chief so the communications center could dispatch both departments to calls in a jointly defined area.
Why it matters: dispatching by district can affect response times near district boundaries. An automatic mutual aid agreement could allow the communications center to send the nearest resource rather than relying strictly on district lines, potentially shortening response times in border areas of Polk County.
What’s next: Chief Eller offered to pursue discussions with neighboring chiefs; no change to dispatch policy was recorded at the meeting.
