HIGH SPRINGS – Plans for the purchase of software to bring an emergency dispatch center back to the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) hit a roadblock during a special meeting Tuesday, July 17.HSPD Chief Steve Holley presented commissioners with an agreement for CAD software that would cost the City some $39,000 in the current fiscal year. Those expenditures, and others required for the startup would be taken from the City’s contingency fund, which would require a budget amendment, according to City Attorney Ray Ivey and former city attorney Thomas DePeter.
Commissioner Scott Jamison, who has opposed bringing the dispatch back to HSPD due to costs, objected altogether to the City using contingency funds to restart the dispatch service.
“This isn’t an emergency. This is a purchase of choice,” Jamison said of the dispatch center.
The City already submitted a letter in June to discontinue dispatch services with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Combined Communications Center (CCC). That started a clock, which calls for the City to take over its own dispatch services on Oct 1.
By Tuesday evening, Holley said, “Time here is my enemy.”
In requesting approval of the $39,000 purchase agreement, Holley said, “Things have to start moving now, to make it.”
Whether or not the dispatch center will be up and running in time for the Oct. 1 deadline seems to be in question, especially since the commission is now moving forward with a budget amendment to make necessary adjustments allowing for the transfer of funds to make the purchases.
The first public hearing on that budget amendment has been scheduled for July 30, adding a nearly two-week delay to the timing.
There seemed to be other unanswered questions about dispatch related costs, including personnel, training, and additional equipment. By the end of discussions Tuesday, City Manager Jeri Langman said she would be meeting with Holley to nail down all of the anticipated costs that would impact the current budget. Preliminary estimates projected some $90,000 in costs during the current budget year to get the dispatch started by Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
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HSPD Chief Steve Holley presented commissioners with an agreement for CAD software that would cost the City some $39,000 in the current fiscal year. Those expenditures, and others required for the startup would be taken from the City’s contingency fund, which would require a budget amendment, according to City Attorney Ray Ivey and former city attorney Thomas DePeter.
Commissioner Scott Jamison, who has opposed bringing the dispatch back to HSPD due to costs, objected altogether to the City using contingency funds to restart the dispatch service.
“This isn’t an emergency. This is a purchase of choice,” Jamison said of the dispatch center.
The City already submitted a letter in June to discontinue dispatch services with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Combined Communications Center (CCC). That started a clock, which calls for the City to take over its own dispatch services on Oct 1.
By Tuesday evening, Holley said, “Time here is my enemy.”
In requesting approval of the $39,000 purchase agreement, Holley said, “Things have to start moving now, to make it.”
Whether or not the dispatch center will be up and running in time for the Oct. 1 deadline seems to be in question, especially since the commission is now moving forward with a budget amendment to make necessary adjustments allowing for the transfer of funds to make the purchases.
The first public hearing on that budget amendment has been scheduled for July 30, adding a nearly two-week delay to the timing.
There seemed to be other unanswered questions about dispatch related costs, including personnel, training, and additional equipment. By the end of discussions Tuesday, City Manager Jeri Langman said she would be meeting with Holley to nail down all of the anticipated costs that would impact the current budget. Preliminary estimates projected some $90,000 in costs during the current budget year to get the dispatch started by Oct. 1, the start of the next fiscal year.
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