Joint Dispatching Center Start Date Delayed

The West Central Dispatching Center will be operational as far as employees are concerned Tuesday, March 1 as planned, but administrators for the participating municipalities have agreed to delay opening the central hub that will house the operation at the until March 7. It was originally set to open March 1.

That decision came Wednesday at a meeting of the WCDC Board of Directors, where officials reported phone lines and furniture for the new entity would not be installed until March 2, while some of the carpeting would not be finished until Monday.

A total of 10 dispatchers have been hired so far, with offers out to two more candidates this week. Earlier plans called for a staff of 13, but in an effort to save money, the center will employ part-time employees to fill roughly 27 hours per week. WCDC General Manager Robert Heimberger said all but two of the full-time dispatchers are coming from the current ranks of Town and Country, Frontenac or Creve Coeur dispatchers, and that no one from those agencies who wanted to join the WCDC was turned away.

Once phone lines are switched over and emergency radios are reprogrammed, all dispatchers housed at the Town and Country facility will be able to handle any call that comes in from each of the three communities. The switch over process could take up to two hours for each agency and it's planned to take place March 7.

Administrators say they are open to the idea of adding new municipalities to the agency.