SANTA PAULA : City Agrees to Add a 5th 911 Dispatcher

Santa Paula City Council agreed Tuesday to add a 911 dispatcher to the local Police Department.

The council’s unanimous decision came three months after Chief of Police Walter Adair urged the city to either hire more dispatchers or contract with the city of Ventura for the services.

Although the population of Santa Paula has nearly doubled since 1960, the Police Department has continued to employ only four trained dispatchers to answer all the emergency calls for police, fire and medical assistance, Adair said.

The dispatchers, who are expected to cover a 24-hour shift year round, often have to work overtime and are sometimes unable to take vacations or lunch breaks, Adair said.

Adair said he has often had to use untrained employees--officers, cadets and even secretaries--to answer 911 calls because of a shortage of trained dispatchers.

In June, the council appointed council members Laura Espinosa and Don Johnson to work with Adair and City Manager Arnold Dowdy in finding ways to pay for more dispatchers.

The group proposed to the council that it use $15,000 from the Police Department’s overtime budget and $15,000 from the city’s reserve to pay for an additional dispatcher, Dowdy said.

Meanwhile, the city will continue looking for financial sources to hire additional dispatchers, Dowdy said.

“I think we have accomplished what the council wants,” Dowdy said. “That is, the dispatchers are still local and we are not contracting with anyone outside of Santa Paula.”