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Call made for consolidated 911 Commissioner wants county, Ashland, Medford to unite By Dani Dodge A Jackson County commissioner wants to re-examine consolidating the three centers in the county that handle 911 calls and dispatching. "Jackson County should take the lead and say we are all using 911 and how can we make it better with consolidated services," Commissioner Jack Walker said Thursday. "Turf battles are always tough to overcome, but this makes sense." But neither the city of Medford or Ashland is itching to jump on Walker�s bandwagon. "If the council says look at it, we will," said Medford police chief Eric Mellgren. "But, I�m not at all interested in giving away our first point of contact." Currently, three centers in Jackson County � Ashland, Medford and Southern Oregon Regional Communications, which is located in Medford � take 911 calls and dispatch emergency services. Ashland dispatches for Ashland�s emergency services, Medford handles Medford and Central Point calls, and SORC fields the calls from the remaining 30 agencies, including the sheriff�s department and Fire District 3. Over the years � especially following passage of Oregon�s property tax-limitation measures � there�s been discussion of consolidating county 911 services. Proponents say consolidation would save money and improve efficiency by outfitting and operating one office instead of three. But Medford and Ashland have opted for local control. Mellgren said agencies differ philosophically on how calls are handled and dispatched. Medford currently provides the service less expensively than the other two agencies, Mellgren said, and he doesn�t want to see his costs increased. Ashland assistant city administrator Greg Scoles said the city would have to study the issue extensively before considering a change. "From the city�s perspective, we want to provide good service in an economical and efficient manner," he said. "Sometimes you can do that with consolidations and sometimes you can�t. "Sometimes there are losers in those type of things and I d want to make sure the citizens of Ashland weren�t the losers." SORC is willing to consider consolidation, said operations manager Anne Arlin-Horsley. "Our position is we are willing to look at anything," she said. "It would require an in-depth study to determine cost savings." Walker said a study is all he really wants. "It�s time we got all three 911 entities sitting down and talking about this," Walker said. "You�ve got two 911 services (SORC and Medford) within a stone�s throw of each other. Both very expensive. You have to question wouldn�t we be better off with one? Why wouldn�t that work better? "I�m no expert, but the question needs to be asked and the people need to answer it." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA