Akron, Ohio, and Summit County Collaborate on Cellular 911 Service

Summit County, Ohio, and the City of Akron are reinforcing an ongoing collaborative relationship, by partnering on a new 911 emergency phone system. As of this week, 911 operators now have the technical capability of pinpointing the locations of emergency calls made from cell phones.

This City-County partnership led to the collective purchase of a single 911 emergency phone system to serve both. Purchasing a single system saves Akron and Summit County nearly $150,000 from the cost if each purchased its own.

The agreement will also ensure maintenance expenses will be reduced by as much as 40 percent by eliminating redundancies. Summit County and the City of Akron previously owned and operated independent 911 systems.

With this purchase, the new 911 system now goes above and beyond the previous technology to keep up with the abundance of cellular devices. City and county call takers in the 911 dispatch center will now be provided with telephone numbers and locations for wireless 911 calls as well as for so-called traditional, land-line phones.

The new system will automatically display a caller's location on a map at the call taker's station after receiving positioning information from the wireless phone. This will give the call taker the location of the caller. Previously there was no such information available from a cellular call to 911.

The system was purchased from AT&T at a cost of roughly $750,000.

Energizing New Partnerships

As part of this continuing affiliation designed to streamline government and make it more efficient, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic and County Executive Russ Pry also announced they are reinvigorating the City-County Collaboration Committee. The committee's job will be to identify areas in which the two jurisdictions can share services and resources in public safety and other areas of government.

The work began last year when Plusquellic appointed the Collaboration Committee to begin the process. Pry and his new administration have embraced the regional approach and the idea of working smarter, as partners.

"The overall intent of this regional affiliation is to strengthen our performance for our citizens," said Pry. "It is where we need to go to remain as effective as possible."

Plusquellic had appointed a task force last year and is pleased Summit County wants to continue working from this approach.

"We have had success in collaborative efforts with the county in the Weights and Measures division, in law enforcement and with our cooperative reverse 911 emergency protocol," said the mayor. (Reverse Alert, as it is called, automatically calls and notifies citizens of imminent and critical emergency situations.)

Plusquellic added that all have saved the taxpayers money and have made municipal and county government more efficient.

Late last year, the City's Division of Weights and Measures was phased out, and a new contractual agreement with Summit County shifted all inspection work to the county government, eliminating any duplication of services.

Akron and Summit County also cooperate on law enforcement training, and a new, 800-megahertz countywide emergency radio system. The Summit County Sheriff's Department shares with the Akron Police, Fire and EMS departments the 911 emergency call center in the Summit County Safety Building downtown.

"This is what working smarter is all about," said Pry.