Photo courtesy of the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office
Four Crescent City councilors approved an updated agreement with Del Norte County on Monday to receive dispatch services from the sheriff’s office.
The Council’s decision comes roughly a week after the Board of Supervisors agreed to the updated agreement on Nov. 12. According to Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott, the arrangement between the city and county hadn’t been updated since 2009.
Councilor Jason Greenough was absent on Monday.
The city’s costs will be based on the actual staffing levels in the county dispatch center, with Crescent City paying for two dispatchers, City Manager Eric Wier told councilors. The sheriff’s office will provide dispatch services for the Crescent City Police Department and Crescent Fire & Rescue.
According to City Attorney Martha Rice, five dispatchers are currently fielding emergency calls. The DNSO hopes to hire two more dispatchers soon, she said.
The agreement will increase Crescent City’s budget this year by about $90,000, though a Sutter Coast Hospital grant will offset that cost by about $70,000. As a result, the city’s 2024-25 budget will be adjusted by about $20,000. Del Norte County will invoice the city quarterly, she said.
“At mid-year we can find out if those hirings have materialized or not and if we need to make additional [budget] adjustments,” she said.
The City Council’s approval of the dispatch agreement comes after the Board of Supervisors approved a plan that calls for the sheriff’s office to eliminate long-standing vacant positions in an effort to increase salaries and recruit and retain more staff.
On Monday, Scott mentioned an analysis completed by consulting firm Federal Engineering last year that identified gaps in the county’s emergency communication system. That analysis mentioned staffing levels in the dispatch center as well as the need to replace its radio system, including mobile radios.
“One problem we have up here in Del Norte is we don’t have digital services,” he said. “If your city police or city fire or even the sheriff’s office wanted to go to a digital service where your radios worked over the Internet and we all just dispatched with Humboldt County, we don’t have that option up here because the cell phone service and internet service doesn’t allow us to.”
Crescent City police might be able to set up a digital emergency communications system, but the sheriff’s office owns expensive repeaters set up throughout the county and are under expensive contracts that concern dispatch, Scott said.
Scott said the Federal Engineering report also discussed salaries in the dispatch center. He alluded to recent conversations he’s had with Del Norte County supervisors on a plan to eliminate long-vacant positions in an effort to increase salaries and recruit and retain staff.
Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin noted that the contract between the city and the county includes regular meetings with the Law Enforcement Association of Del Norte (LEADN) Communications Committee. He said he’s got a good working relationship with the sheriff and had no problems with the proposed agreement.
