Cook, Clark address concerns, issues

Earlier this week, the Okmulgee County Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution transferring operations of the Okmulgee County Regional Dispatch Center to the Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Authority (OCCJA). The move has caused some controversy with some emergency and fire departments, who are concerned with the change, and possible problems that could arise from the move.

OCCJA Executive Director Shannon Clark and Public Information Officer Chris Cook sat down with the Free-Lance for an exclusive interview on Tuesday to share some information about the 911 agency, the changes, and why the move was made by county officials.

The administration pointed out that the management group of the OCCJA is a very diverse group, with over 130 years of combined experience in dealing with emergency situations.

“With this managerial transition, there will be no disruption of services to the public or emergency responders,” the agency stated in a press release. “The OCCJA has the utmost dedication to maintaining the expectations of the public when a call is made requesting emergency services.”

“We had some good conversations with some of the staff,” Cook said. “We actually called some of the employees that were not at work and let them know that, ‘hey, you have a job to come to, contrary to what Facebook or the visual media might be saying. You still have a place here.’” There are currently 12 employees in the 911 call center, with two additional people added to the staff this week.

The OCCJA administration addressed several concerns and rumors they had heard about the ‘takeover’ including terminating all current 911 dispatchers and ‘bringing in their own team,’ which Clark said was not true at all.

“It all goes back to the most important thing is that citizens have a place to call to get immediate service,” Clark said. He stated several of the OCCJA staff were more than happy to step in to assist on the first day.

“They are just helping out,” he said. “Like we told the dispatchers, we will be hiring more dispatchers … not to replace anyone, just to add to (the current staff).

An issue causing concern for current staff were reports of hours being cut or reduced.

The administrators stated they are looking into what is best “operationally” for all employees, “but they (the employees) have been very forthright that they want to stay on their 12 hour shift. At the end of the day, we (the administration) are not the one’s sitting in those chairs … and if this is what works ‘collectively,’ why mess with something?”

With the 911 dispatch center assimilated under the OCCJA, Cook stated the opportunity arose for current jail staff with previous experience working in other call centers to volunteer their services during the transition.

“One of our staff members used to be a dispatcher for Tulsa,” Cook said. “Already they are seeing some of the fruits in playing for a larger team.”

Tim Lawson will direct the 911 operations, OCCJA Captain Aaron Swayze is serving as a supervisor and Stacy Oglesby was named as an interim supervisor.

Administrators did say one staff member terminated their employment on Monday following the move. They added that supervisor Christa Walker was placed on paid administrative leave, with all benefits intact.

“We’re not going to make rash decisions, we are going to make rational decisions,” Cook said.

“Our (OCCJA) staff is not a replacement, but an augment,” Clark said.

In addressing the reason for the changeover, Cook stated Shannon Clark was originally tasked with seeing how to make the 911 center operate more efficiently.

Another issue was the number of overtime hours being worked by the staff.

“One of the big concerns of the study was that most of the dispatchers were drawing down 16 to 20 hours of overtime a month,” Clark said. “That’s why the commissioners couldn’t continue to afford to pay them.”

Clark stated there was not a clear picture of how many employees were absolutely needed to staff the center.

“What we are going to do is hire enough dispatchers where nobody has to work overtime, but we are also going to adjust the compensation so that nobody loses their quality of life,” Clark said. He added dispatchers actually make less than a detention officer, and dispatching is a “specialty position, so there are a lot of real positive things.”

“By merging with us,” Cook said, “it gives career development paths…If a person who is on dispatch console right now, maybe they want to be a cop, we have a law enforcement division, so we just opened up a new avenue for them … Some of the older detention officers could then transfer to communications. They have a tremendous skill set as it is, and they can still be a viable asset not only to our organization, but also the community.”

Clark stated the OCCJA plans to begin a basic training curriculum that will provide consistency for all dispatchers.

The study of 911 and a proposed move was originally talked about last July, but was ‘sidelined’ several times, Clark said. The matter was revisited earlier this year, in which he offered his services to do an administrative overview of the department.

“Right now, the OCCJA is the only one financially stable in the county that can support an operation like this,” Clark said. “We can absorb those 12 positions with no problem.” The OCCJA has about 120 staff members currently.

At Monday’s county meeting, speaking on behalf of Sheriff Eddy Rice, OCSO Investigator Smokey Patchin stated “the sheriff believes that making a move would be in the interest of the county at this point for one reason - dispatch… And he has full faith and credit in Mr. Clark’s management skills and thinks he can manage it well.”

“The sheriff led the charge on this one,” Clark said, “because he is really dissatisfied with the service he’s getting.”

Under the OCCJA, the 911 staff will still have the same insurance plan that is used by the county. All accrued time will be transferred over, though they are considered as new hires by the OCCJA.

As far as addressing response time to emergencies, Cook stated there is a definite need for ‘infrastructure’ updates - new computers particularly for the department.

The Geo-Safe program currently used by the county, especially fire departments and emergency services, is paid for by the OCCJA as a “community service to the entire public safety industry in the county, which is $20,000 a year … even OSUIT is on it as well,” Cook said.

As far as the audit of the 911 department, Clark stated it is not a “forensic audit or criminal investigation” - it is an internal administrative audit.

“Because we have a Board of Trustees,” Cook said, “there is going to be a lot more light shone there … everything will be transparent on how we do things.”

Clark added that with the transition, the 911 communications will be under the direction of the OCCJA board, and not the Okmulgee County Board of Commissioners.