Dispatcher development discussed at 911 meeting

Evangeline Parish 9-1-1/OEP Director Liz Hill talked about the strides her group of dispatchers have been making during Wednesday night’s annual board meeting held at the 9-1-1/OEP Offices at Industrial Park.
“Our dispatchers have been steadily improving,” Hill said. “We were having problems with our fire departments when it came to dispatching calls. The big reason was the dispatchers were having to learn all the different protocols for each station.
“They just need a little time to learn them all. And now that we have some more experienced dispatchers in the room it will continue to improve.”
During her director’s report, Hill also informed the board that the generator has been installed on site but that they are still waiting on the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to be delivered and installed. Hill said the UPS needed for the building costs $12,000 but will be paid for with leftover funding from a grant.
Hill also spoke about the repairs needed for the complex’s motorized entrance-exit gate. The gate has become routinely stuck or not operational at all. Hill informed the board why that was.
“The company that makes the gate told us that our particular model of gate had a bunch of bad parts,” Hill said. “That’s what we were told.”
Hill further said that they are working on repairing the gate, as well as installing a buzzer and key pad at the gate.
Hill also said that an official ribbon cutting for the new facility will hopefully held sometime after the first of the year, preferably in January.
In other business the board approved:
• A five-percent pay increase for the 9-1-1/OEP administration, which would not go into effect until June of 2017.
• The election of Pat Derouselle as chairman and Nat Thomas as secretary-treasurer for 2017.
• The hiring of Kristi Burleigh in the Administration Office at a rate of $9.50 per hour for a 40-hour pay week.