Director Updates Council on Comm Center

“It was a very good year,” says Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center Director Heidi Gillespie.

Gillespie recently presented her report on the communication center’s fiscal year. To say it is a very good year is commending her staff as much as is possible, according to Gillespie. Staffing is a primary part of the communication center. Dispatchers take calls varying from information requests to a person in distress. Gillespie said the communication center averages 110 calls per day. Of that number, 45 to 50 percent result in calls for service by one of the response agencies.

The Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center dispatches Sidney Police, Sidney Fire Department, Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office and recently Deuel County services, as well as communicates with the area Nebraska State Patrol.

Her staffing situation has changed recently. Two dispatchers resigned and a third is on medical leave. As a result, she is spending time training a new dispatcher, time she would usually be spending with administrative duties.

“I want to give my trainee all of my attention,” she said.

She said she will be hiring one more by the end of the year. She said when someone inquires about working at the communication center, they are offered a job description with the specifics of what a dispatcher does and does not do. Among specifications, there will be social and family events that a dispatcher will not be able to attend because of schedule commitments. Before a decision is made, an application is offered a “sit-along,” an opportunity to sit at the dispatch center and witness how the job is done.

She said there has been discussion of a training program for dispatchers. However, even if that concept becomes reality, there would be site training to teach new dispatchers about specifics of the local communications center.

The largest change to the communication center is the addition of Deuel County for dispatch duties. In April Deuel County asked Cheyenne County to take the place of Keith County in providing dispatch services. Services with Deuel County started July 1.

“I am extremely pleased with how it went,” Gillespie said. “They’ve been fantastic.”

She said there were small challenges, primarily paperwork references, “little stuff that doesn’t impact public safety.”

The biggest challenge of the fiscal year is the April snowstorm that nearly paralyzed Sidney and the surrounding roads. The blizzard kept dispatchers from commuting to work, and those on duty from leaving. Those who were manning the communication center took breaks in shifts, living at the center until the roads were safe to travel and relief staff could make it to Sidney. The center is stocked with “blizzard kits” for just such an unexpected emergency.

“I can’t say enough about the people I was able to get here,” she said.

She said the two dispatchers who were on duty kept track of the police department, fire department, Cheyenne County Sheriff’s deputies, ambulances, Nebraska State Patrol and other first responders. She said during that weekend, the communications center took in nearly six times the volume of calls as normal.

The Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center answered 42,956 calls in the 2017-2018 fiscal year, resulting in 18,219 calls for service.