The Allen County Board of Commissioners today unanimously approved an interlocal cooperation agreement with the City of Fort Wayne that would combine the County and City public safety dispatch centers.

You can read a copy of the agreement by clicking here.

Under the agreement, a joint Operations Board comprised of the Allen County Sheriff, the sheriff's Chief Deputy, and the chiefs of the Fort Wayne Police and Fire Departments would oversee the new Consolidated Communications Partnership.  The board's responsibilities would include hiring an executive director, purchasing equipment and maintaining facilities and entering into contracts and agreements for the partnership.

The agreement also sets out funding contributions by the City and County to the partnership.  The City would fund 70 percent of the operations, while the County would contribute 30 percent -- the same amounts currently budgeted by both as a proportion of the entire Communications budget.  Future contribution percentages would be based upon call and run volume statistics and reviewed every three years beginning in January 2012, for the fiscal year 2013.

The agreement also calls for the operations board to set benchmarks for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of the organization, including the number of calls received, number of runs dispatched, speed of response and budgetary efficiencies.

The interlocal agreement must also be approved and signed by Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry, the Fort Wayne Common Council and the Allen County Council before it can be implemented.  The initial term of the agreement is for three years, and it will be automatically renewed for successive three-year terms unless it is terminated by one of the sides.