NATCHEZ — Adams County Emergency Management Director Robert Bradford hopes to have the Natchez-Adams County consolidated emergency dispatch office complete in three to four months.

The next steps include signing the interlocal agreement on Feb. 1, sending the agreement to the state Attorney General’s office for approval, hiring a dispatch supervisor and hiring staff and installing equipment.

Bradford said the move would cost approximately $40,000. Most of the expense will be in hiring certified movers to relocate and set up the dispatching equipment, but Bradford said new desks and some other furniture also would be purchased.

Two years ago, the E911 board had already purchased at a cost of $227,000 the dispatch equipment the consolidated office will be using.

The dispatch center will be near the emergency management office, which is located within the Adams County Sheriff’s Office and jail facility on the corner of State and Wall streets.

Once consolidation is complete, the next six to eight months will be dedicated to cross training employees to work together as a cohesive unit and working out any potential kinks, Bradford said.

Including the dispatch supervisor, the E911 office will have 14 employees. Currently, the county and city have 15 dispatchers split between the sheriff’s office and Natchez Police Department.

The Natchez police and fire departments consolidated their dispatching in 1994, and the department has 10 dispatchers, said NPD’s Capt. Scott Frye. The sheriff’s office has five dispatchers, said ACSO’s Maj. Jerry Brown.

Bradford said Metro Miss-Lou Ambulance Service and American Medical Response would retain their own dispatching systems.

Bradford said the sheriff’s office plans to retain two dispatchers who are certified to access the National Criminal Information Center database, so the consolidated dispatch center will have to hire at least one new dispatcher.

Frye said Natchez Police already have two personnel in other areas qualified to access the NCIC database.

Bradford said he hopes to have the dispatch center operate four shifts, each with three to four people, but the final call on shifts will be up to the dispatch supervisor.

The cost to run the center — including salaries, benefits and maintenance contracts on the equipment — will be approximately $500,000 annually, Bradford said.

Frye said the consolidation would not save much in money at this time, but the time savings and the efficiencies added would be well worth the change.

“Say we have something going on and we need sheriff units for support,” Frye said. “In a consolidated office, they will be able to see what resources are needed and dispatch them out right then and there.”

Getting an ambulance on scene or a wrecker out would also be more efficient, Frye said. The police and sheriff’s office operate on a rotation system between two ambulance services and a number of wrecker services.

Frye said dispatchers have no idea which service is up on the other system’s queue.

“I think consolidation is a step in the right direction for the community,” Frye said. “Once we have one system for the entire county, it will help reduce issues with the queue because all of that information will be in one office.”

The consolidation will also speed up warrant checks, Frye said.

“Right now, say we need to check warrants with the sheriff’s department,” Frye said. “We have to call them to check and see if they have a warrant on so and so. But if they are the same entity, dispatchers will have access to both of our active warrants.

“I think it is going to be a better deal for everyone.”

Frye said while consolidating Natchez Police Department and the Adams County Sheriff’s Office dispatch centers will not likely save much money if any, the next potential step would save money.

Frye said the state is attempting to get different counties to consolidate into regional dispatch centers.

“Basically the first step is consolidating here,” Frye said. “Then in the future, we will look to see if we want to join a regional dispatch center.”

Brown said he agreed with Frye about dispatch consolidation being a step in the right direction for the community.

Brown said another efficiency would be in where the calls are routed. Sometimes, 911 calls within the city end up at county dispatch, and vice versa.

“I think it is a good idea,” Brown said. “With everything right there together, it is going to save a lot of time.”

Frye said the police made a trip to Vicksburg and met with Vicksburg and Warren County E911 Director Chuck Tate. In Vicksburg, dispatch consolidation occurred approximately 25 years ago.

“They were able to answer a lot of questions,” Frye said. “We were able to get some information about how it has worked, how they handle the manpower and basically we got an idea about how to run it.”

Tate said he has 17 full-time dispatchers, four part time positions and a few administrators including himself. He said the Vicksburg-Warren total dispatch center budget is approximately $1.4 million.

With county and city fire departments also handling ambulance services, Tate said one difference between Adams and Warren would be that his center dispatches the medical calls directly.

Tate said Warren County did look at hiring a company to handle ambulance service in the county, but Tate said they opted to keep the system as is because the company wanted to handle its own dispatch service. Tate said he believes the system is more efficient with all aspects of dispatch under one roof.

Another difference is the Vicksburg-Warren dispatch center is within its own building. The service does not share space with the police, fire or sheriff’s office personnel.

“I think for us consolidated dispatch has been a wonderful thing,” Tate said. “Keep in mind none of this comes cheap, but with the efficiencies it has definitely been worth it.”

Warren County Board of Supervisors President Richard George, who is serving his sixth term, said in the late 1980s, the community began the process toward centralized dispatch as expenses were going for operating separate dispatch operations.

“It has proved out to be effective and successful,” George said. “The actual control and operation of a singular system is more efficient and creates less confusion about who is to respond and those sorts of things.

“We have been with the system for quite a while, and there has been no real consideration given to doing anything else.”