The lifeline of Allen County’s emergency response system is getting a long-overdue upgrade. After nearly two decades of nonstop use, the county’s 911 dispatch consoles — specialized workstations that handle thousands of calls and keep first responders connected — are wearing out and failing. On Tuesday, commissioners approved the purchase of three new units. 
The project, including installation, will cost about $75,000 and will be funded through Prairie Queen Wind Farm PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) funds. The commission had already allocated up to $100,000 for the purchase.
County 911 Director Chelsie Decker previously recommended three new units at an estimated $67,725, citing both safety and operational concerns. She noted that the consoles are not ordinary office furniture but specialized workstations built to National Emergency Number Association (NENA) standards.
“The current consoles — used since 2007 — are beginning to fail. One leg motor is already broken,” Decker said. “Dispatch consoles have about 43,800 hours of use in five years, while standard office furniture only sees that much over an 18-year period. In 18 years, office furniture doesn’t even match the wear dispatch consoles experience in five years.”
Despite the failing equipment, Commissioner David Lee questioned the need to spend $75,000 on the new consoles. “I am not comfortable spending $75,000 for three sets of console tables, whatever you call it,” he said. “The ones we have are meeting the needs. They’re working.”
Decker disagreed with this assessment. “Two of them are still working,” she said. “One of those is half-working without it being adjustable, and every single person in my office is a different height, a different size.”
Decker referenced previous experiences with equipment replacement to justify acting before the consoles fail completely. “When I brought you the PC replacement, I was told that I was backing you into a corner because we still had time,” she said to Lee. “If I bring you something before it’s completely broken, it’s not justified. But if I wait until it’s broken, we’re already behind.”
Lee compared the situation to the county sheriff’s fleet of vehicles. “If the sheriff’s got three trucks and one of them’s bad and needs repair, are we going to replace all three trucks? That’s, in essence, what we’re asking to do here,” he said.
Commissioner Jerry Daniels pointed out that the commission had already approved the expenditure earlier this year. “There is an expenditure of up to $100,000 for this. It’s already been approved. So I don’t really know why we’re backpedaling here,” he said. Daniels then made a motion to approve the $67,725 bid from Xybix, with installation bringing the total to about $75,000 — still $25,000 under budget.
Commissioner John Brocker seconded the motion and pointed out that the current consoles have lasted 18 years. “It’s something that we’re not going to replace all the time,” he said.
The motion passed, with Daniels and Brocker voting in favor and Lee opposed.
IN OTHER NEWS, County Appraiser Danielle Louk reported on the county’s appraisal ratio, saying Allen County is currently at 95%, which falls within the state’s required compliance range.
The county’s appraisal ratio shows how close the county’s appraised values are to actual market values. If the ratio is 95%, it means properties are, on average, appraised at 95% of what they’d sell for on the open market.
“That means we’re about five percent below market value,” Louk explained. “But I’m still within the statistical range that I’m allowed to be in.”
She also reviewed other statistical measures, including the county’s coefficient of dispersion (COD), which stands at 18 — well within the confidence interval of 13.68 to 23.
The COD shows how close or spread out property values are compared to each other after they’ve been appraised. A low COD means properties are appraised pretty evenly and fairly across the county. A high COD means some properties are valued much higher or lower than others, showing less consistency. It’s basically a fairness check — making sure one homeowner isn’t paying a lot more (or less) in property taxes than someone with a similar house.
