Chippewa Falls (WQOW) - When you call 911, the last thing you'd expect to happen is to be put on hold. The Chippewa Falls mayor says that has happened to people and it shows a need for changes.
Chippewa Falls and Chippewa County have been talking about merging dispatch services for over fifteen years. Tuesday, WQOW News 18 was told they're closer to reaching an agreement now, more than ever before.
Here's the issue: each runs their own dispatch center. Both take about the same amount of calls each year, but the city only has one dispatch operator on duty at a time. The mayor says he's concerned about public safety.
"I had a gentleman who called in last week and said that he was put on hold because the dispatcher was on another call, and if it had been something of a very serious nature... So... we really need to move forward on this from a safety perspective," says Chippewa Falls Mayor Greg Hoffman.
The mayor says unless the dispatch centers merge, the city may have to look at adding more staff and possibly update equipment, which would be costly.
Earlier Tuesday night, the city's Revenues and Public Safety Committees met to discuss a possible merger in a closed session.
Mayor Hoffman says figuring out the cost of shared services and the impact a merger will have on all departments is making this a long process.
The mayor says at this point they are waiting to hear back from the county about how it wants to proceed.
