TOLEDO, Ohio — The Toledo City Council decided Tuesday afternoon to postpone the vote to authorize the mayor to execute the 911 consolidation plan by two weeks.
Councilman Rob Ludeman said he received a last-minute call from Maumee Mayor Richard Carr asking that they wait for a meeting with all municipalities included in the plan to happen first.
The Lucas County Board of Commissioners voted in favor of the consolidation Tuesday morning.
It takes two separate local government entities to vote in favor of the plan for the process of putting everything together to begin. Toledo City Council's vote would have been that second one.
The consolidation would move 911 dispatchers from Sylvania, Sylvania Township, Maumee, Oregon and the Lucas County Sheriff's Office to the emergency services building in downtown Toledo.
Lucas County Commissioner Gary Byers said this move mean the region would be following what is considered to be the "best practices" for responding to emergencies. He added this would be another step following the regional water agreement that shows local governments in the area are willing to work together.
All 911 calls would be handled through one center with one set of emergency response policies.
Toledo’s 911 center is fully staffed 24/7, answering 82% of Lucas County’s 911 calls per year. While smaller towns like Maumee and Sylvania only account for 2% of the county’s calls, leaders believe the merge would alleviate the operational and funding disparities between Toledo and the five smaller municipalities.
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