City of LaSalle representative urges county to rescind $25,000 dispatch offer to Mendota

John Duncan, introduced to the board as a citizen speaker and a City of LaSalle employee, told the LaSalle County board that he and other public-safety stakeholders oppose a sheriff's offer to provide dispatch services to the City of Mendota for $25,000.

"We are here to voice our opposition, to the sheriff's offer to the City Of Mendota to provide dispatch services for the City Of Mendota," Duncan said during the public-comment period, arguing the amount appears inconsistent with a per-capita distribution policy the board recently adopted.

Duncan and other commenters said the county's PSAP (public-safety answering point) costs are roughly $2,000,000 and that the PSAP currently serves about 40,609 people; adding Mendota's corporate limits would add about 7,061 people, a roughly 17.39% increase, the speaker said. "Adding only the corporate city limits of Mendota will add 7,061 people or a 17.39% increase on a per capita basis," he said.

Those figures were offered to underline a concern: a $25,000 offer would leave the remainder of 911 costs to be subsidized by other county taxpayers, speakers said. Duncan also said the sheriff told them an allocation of $103,000 from 911 surcharge distributions "potentially" could follow Mendota's move, but that the joint board (per the intergovernmental agreement) had not authorized any transfers.

"We were told by the sheriff that the offer was out there," Duncan said, adding that Mendota could vote to exit the existing regional dispatch arrangement and accept the county's offer at a future meeting. "We were told that Mendota had two different offers, 5 year option and a 10 year option," he said; "this financial commitment would be for the length of 10 years for $25,000."

Board members asked whether an ad hoc committee examining 911 allocation methodology had completed a time study or financial analysis; the public commenter said no such county-wide study exists and that the committee is still gathering data and expects a meeting at the end of August to consider a proposed funding formula.

Supporters of a uniform per-capita approach said the county's intergovernmental agreements require PSAPs to seek approval before taking on new territory and that unilateral offers risk undermining that process. "If the sheriff would like to pursue further consolidation, then we strongly suggest a plan to be developed to achieve an independent center and address the finances and infrastructure prior to making offers to select communities only," Duncan told the board.

The board did not adopt or rescind the reported offer during the meeting. Members said they would review the packet of information being distributed by concerned stakeholders and seek clarification of what authority, if any, the sheriff has to contract directly with Mendota without board action.

What happens next: speakers asked that the ad hoc committee finish its data collection and that elected representatives press for a clear explanation of the sheriff's offer before any jurisdiction decides to change dispatch arrangements.