Discussion came to a head on Monday as Allen County Commissioners met with Township Trustees about the proposed change in billing for dispatch services.
The commissioners have been working on what they believe will be an equitable and fair billing process for those townships and municipalities they have contracts with. Monday, the majority of those townships made their voices heard as they are against the proposal they were given. Stating that dispatch services is a countywide issue and should be handled by the county even if it may need to go to the voters.
Howard Violet, president of the Allen County Township Association explains, “Our association has already made it clear they’re 100% in unison on helping the county to support a county-wide type of referendum of levy, whatever, to fund these dispatch services. It’s just not possible to reach a fair balance by just dividing numbers up on a start arbitrarily and passing them out to the various townships in the county. That’s just not possible to get a fair settlement.”
County Commissioners say they had listened to their concerns in previous meetings and made adjustments to the proposal and were ready to write contracts. They were taken aback by how the tone of discussions took a turn Monday afternoon.
Allen County Commissioner Beth Seibert, “The commissioners heard them today. One thing the commissioners have not been talking about is a countywide levy for these services but I think it’s something that we would consider if we could go to a centralized dispatch. So, that’s something for the board of commissioners to consider as we move forward.
There has not been another meeting scheduled at this time.
