A training budget item became a flashpoint for tensions between the Lake County Board and the Sheriff’s Office over the office’s refusal to consolidate its 911 services with LakeComm and the new Regional Operations Center during a Sept. 9 board meeting.
The $100,000 was for getting the Sheriff’s 911 dispatchers emergency medical dispatch training and certification, which is a state requirement, although a waiver has been in place since 2022. The board, in a split vote, ultimately put the item on indefinite hold, with Chair Sandy Hart saying it would reopen the item if the state were to end the waiver.
Those in favor of the delay argued it was a case of duplication of services, something LakeComm was created to address, and urged the Sheriff’s Office to move towards consolidation to address more fundamental issues. Those opposed felt the training was important regardless of the consolidation controversy, and should not be delayed.
A number of board members, including some who voted against delaying the agenda item, repeated their stance that the Sheriff’s Office should be brought into LakeComm.
That included member Esiah Campos, who called the money and training a “Band Aid,” with the “actual wound” being the need to “get the sheriff inside the ROC.” However, he feels it is important that the office not be caught “flat-footed” if the state were to drop the waiver.
The 911 consolidation and its associated facility — a $54 million, 37,400-square-foot, state-of-the-art building — is the culmination of a more-than-decades-long effort that, among other things, is aimed at reducing call transfers during emergencies.
The Sheriff’s Office had pulled out of consolidation plans several years ago over concerns with the merging of its dispatch services with municipal dispatch.
Since then, the office has emphasized it is “collaborative and communicative” with LakeComm, and board members and local officials have made mention in subsequent years about ongoing discussions. However, little news has come out about the Sheriff’s Office potentially rejoining the operation.
During back-and-forth comments between board members and Sheriff John Idleburg, he argued the budget item was necessary for the dispatchers’ work, regardless of the consolidation issue.
“I need this resource to protect the county and protect the people I’m responsible for,” Idleburg said. “There are a lot of reasons why we’re not at the ROC, but we’re not there now. So [it’s about] what do we do now to protect and serve the county?”
But board member Adam Schlick said he felt it was simply kicking the issue of consolidation down the road, and pointed out that regardless of EMD training, sheriff dispatchers will still have to transfer a call if it requires an ambulance.
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Board member Linda Pederson told Idleberg that she personally had faced a call transfer with her husband, and she “wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
“We’ve spent all this money to build this state-of-the-art building, the ROC, to eliminate transfer calls,” Pederson said.
The vote to indefinitely delay the item was an unusual split for the County Board, with eight members — Marah Altenberg, Esiah Campos, Carissa Casbon, Jennifer Clark, Mary Ross-Cunningham, Sara Knizhnik, Gina Roberts and John Wasik — voting against indefinitely delaying the item.
Casbon, mirroring sentiments raised by other opposed board members, argued the training was important for public safety and should not be about, “relitigating consolidation and what went wrong.” She said she worries that delaying the funding sends a bad message to the community.