Central County Emergency 911 votes on merger

On a 4-1 vote, the Central County Emergency 911 board of directors approved a contract with RCC Consultants, Inc., of Woodbridge, N.J., to prepare a plan for merging Central County and North Central Fire Alarm. The two dispatching operations will split the $23,000 cost of the contract.

With its operations center in Ellisville, Central County handles 911 calls and dispatching of fire and EMS responders for seven fire protection districts and municipalities in West County. Included are the Monarch, Metro West, West County, Creve Coeur, Des Peres, Frontenac and Maryland Heights fire and emergency medical operations

North Central has its headquarters in St. John and does similar work for 17 fire and EMS agencies in northern St. Louis County. Those operations include city fire departments in Berkeley, Ferguson, Hazelwood, Jennings and University City. Fire protection districts involved are Black Jack, Community, Florissant Valley, Kinloch, Mid-County, Metro North, Pattonville, Riverview, Robertson, Spanish Lake and West Overland. Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District also is part of the North Central dispatch operation.

The prospective merger would encompass more than two-thirds of St. Louis County.

Central County handles some 30,000 emergency calls annually, most of them for medical service, and has an annual budget of $3.4 million. North Central has an annual call volume of 60,000, most also for medical assistance. Its annual budget is about $1.9 million.

Budget funds come from the participating entities.

While Central County’s organizations provide emergency medical services as well as firefighting capabilities, many in the North Central group have arrangements with hospital ambulance operations for medical emergencies. And while hospital ambulances are dispatched by North Central, they do not contribute to the dispatching service’s budget.

RCC Consultants already has done a feasibility study for the first phase of the merger investigation, concluding that the concept was possible but that a number of issues needed to be addressed in more detail in the strategic plan.

At a recent meeting of the Monarch Fire Protection District, Chief Tom Vineyard noted that a driving force in the merger talks was St. Louis County’s interest in handling dispatch services for other agencies in addition to meeting its own police-related needs.

Success in such an effort would drain funds from the existing dispatch operations, with a likely greater impact on North Central due to its already-smaller budget. And while neither the North Central or Central County operations have a large number of employees – about 16 and 18 respectively, loss of funds ultimately would mean fewer jobs.

Another concern expressed at the Monarch meeting is that St. Louis County’s dispatching for EMS calls would take a back seat to county police emergency activities.

The lone vote against the new RCC contract was cast by Tim Flora, a Central County director representing the Metro West Fire Protection District.

However, most of Central County’s own employees earlier had signed a letter to the board opposing the merger.

At the Jan. 26 Central County board meeting, Andy Stecko, a Monarch employee and member of the firefighters union that represents Central County’s employees, urged that a board member meet with the employee group to discuss the merger. That communications step could help resolve employee concerns, Stecko said.

The new RCC planning contract doesn’t mean the merger is a foregone conclusion. The consultants’ work will include detailed looks at governance issues, field operations and facilities, financial matters and human resources questions such as existing labor agreements, benefits and salaries.

Any of those areas could present obstacles capable of derailing the merger.

A target date of July 1 originally was set for the possible merger but there’s at least some doubt that deadline will be met.