This is a good idea, I know there is a board of people from Cowley County that have been working on this for quite a while. Unfortunately I doubt it will become a reality for a couple more years.
Why not combine the dispatch center with Winfield and make a county dispatch like most other counties. This county is spending twice as much money for equipment as other counties. And don't give me that we need to provide the personal touch, if you speak to a speaker now what would be the difference if the dispatch is located here or in Winfield.
I am unaware of any particular board that is working on this project, but the idea does have its merits.
At present the Sheriff's Dept contracts with each city (Ark City and Winfield) to dispatch for half the county. I'm not sure if that is because of limitations to the broadcast equipment, interaction with local police or something else entirely.
Ambulance and fire is much the same in that each city covers about half of the county. Again I don't know if that is organizational, limited broadcast equipment, or some other reason.
There are a number of different entities involved and each interacts in a different way. It may take considerable time to gather information from each of the different entities (fire departments-rural and city, ambulance, police, sheriff, emergency services, etc...) on services and equpment to see what the possibilities are.
I do believe it is worth looking into, but I am guessing it will take a while just to gather the information before we can determine what our opportunities might be.
Thanks for the heads up, I honestly hadn't thought of it before.
