New way to manage 911 response in Utah County

OREM — Firefighters will still rush to your burning house and police officers will still pull you over for speeding, but come Saturday, the men and women dispatching those services will be managed by a special service district — not Utah County.

"Both the county and (the cities) determined … it would be a better governing structure to change from being managed by one of the users, which was the county, to making it so all cities would have more of a voice," said Deborah Mecham, executive director of the new Utah Valley Dispatch Special Service District.

Not that the county was doing a bad job, but "the district puts each of the cities more in the driver's seat, so to speak," said Melanie Marsh, chief of staff for American Fork and one of the members on the board of directors.

The board of directors has a representative from each city and the county, and city police and fire chiefs meet monthly as the operations board to discuss policies and protocols, and fix any problems.

Provo, Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, Springville and Mapleton are not part of the special service district.

Marsh said American Fork is excited about the change and this fiscal year, the board will be focusing on dispatch fees, to ensure they are fair and equal for each participating city.

With the former county run dispatch center, each 911 call cost $15.50, said Santaquin Police Chief Dennis Howard and chairman of the operations board. However, without the county subsidizing some of that cost, each call will now cost around $25.

The district will be funded by those per-call costs — already part of a city's budget — as well as each city's 911 surcharge fees.

Mecham directed a special service district in Weber County for nine years before she retired and came to Utah Valley. She said county residents will continue to receive good services, but can expect future enhancements.

"There's always room for improvement," she said.

Although the official switch is Saturday, Mecham has been implementing small changes for several months, including getting the operations board to approve more than 20 new procedures. Those procedures, like scripts, provide a standardized approach to emergency response, so each dispatcher gives identical instructions in crisis situations.

E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com