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WADESBORO — During Monday’s Wadesboro town council meeting, Mayor Fred Davis reminded members a decision still needs to be made on whether to enter into a contract with the county to provide the town of Wadesboro with two emergency 911 dispatchers.
Agreeing with the Mayor, Town Manager Wiley Ross Jr. said, “We have had a contract that ends June 30 of this year for emergency communication services with Anson County 911. We have a contract before you that states that we will appropriate funds for two dispatchers at the cost of $145,000 per year, totaling $290,000 at the end of July 30, 2027. It is eight equal payments of $36,000 [versus] $36,250 broken up into those payments. Once the two individuals are hired, that is when the payments will start, I think sometime in July of this year.”
Answering Councilman Garrett Snuggs question regarding exhausting all avenues of negotiation with the county, Ross answered, “Yes, Sir. We have been deliberating with the county for several months, matter of fact, since I came here last June. This is something that small towns usually do. We [don’t] have the capacity for resources to have our own dispatch services, so, the county provides that for other towns in Anson County. We are the biggest one with the highest call volume.”
Responding to a question posed by Snuggs about seeking a share in payment costs from some of the other towns and municipalities within the county to assist in paying for Wadesboro’s dispatch service, Ross said, “I cannot speak for the other towns and municipalities, the county is pretty adamant about Wadesboro and our call volume, which is very accurate. We make up probably somewhere close to 50% of their volume. So, again, we can’t afford to house a communication center. We did that before, it didn’t go very well from my understanding, I wasn’t here. It’s upwards of almost a million dollars to have the equipment and staff and all that. I recommend that we contract with the county.”
At Ross’ suggestion, Councilman Snuggs made a motion to approve the contract with the county to hire two dispatch service officers to serve the town of Wadesboro, seconded by councilman Lawrence Parsons. The motion was approved without any further discussion or dissent.
