Washoe County’s Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday approved for county staff to continue regionalizing the community’s emergency dispatch system.
County Manager Eric Brown updated commissioners on the progress made since July of last year when the county and the cities of Reno and Sparks agreed to work on creating a more efficient emergency dispatch system. Representatives from nearly 40 agencies and organizations have been working on steps to explore regionalization.
Progress made so far includes selection of a uniform computer aided dispatch system, which Brown said was a big deal.
“As a region we’re agreeing to go on the same platform,” he said. The next step is in process, which is negotiating a contract for the system, is underway.
Brown said the group is also exploring better use of federal grants available for ambulance services, known as Ground Emergency Management Transportation Grants or GEMT.
“The reason we’re not optimized [using GEMT grants] is, first of all, REMSA can’t participate because they’re not a government agency,” Brown explained. “And then if you think about whatever dollars are available for reimbursement across our region, you would also want to look at opportunities to lower costs to render services. That’s the business model that needs to be recreated for sustainability.”
A facilitation company has also been brought on to assist with “thorny issues” for governance and cost sharing, Brown said. “They’ve worked with over 300 other jurisdictions to do this stuff.”
Commission Chair Vaughn Hartung said governance of the regionalized dispatch system may need to follow the governance model employed by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, which has representatives on its board from each local government.
Brown said he expects to provide a recommendation on proposed solutions to commissioners by early March.
