Trumbull County Commissioners are hoping to improve the county's dispatch center. 

“Nothing is more important than the safety of our residents of Trumbull County, and it all starts with that phone call,” said Denny Malloy, Trumbull County Commissioner’s representative on the 911 review board.

After getting approval from commissioners, the center is getting upgrades to its servers and 911 recording systems.

The Trumbull County 911 dispatch center receives over 200,000 calls each year. Malloy said updated technology is essential for the dispatchers. 

“Technology increases rapidly. If you don't keep up with the times, we can't have our emergency services on old technology. So, we upgraded the technology today, now we have to find better working conditions,” said Malloy.

Tacy McDonough, Trumbull County 911 director, said she is excited the improvements got approved, and is now focusing on moving the dispatch center.

“The building is not in the best condition. The dispatchers are in a basement of what’s an old morgue. There’s no windows. It’s depressing,” said McDonough. “It would be nice to sit there at your desk and look out and see daylight. It would be nice to have furnishings that weren’t breaking on you while you’re sitting there doing work.”

This is at a time where the dispatch center is looking to hire more people. McDonough said it’s difficult to hire with the current conditions.

“Our dispatchers are overworked, understaffed. We're sitting with about 20 dispatchers currently. We need about 30. So, you add the stress of not being in a building that's serving the needs that you have, and the needs of those dispatchers. It's hard to retain people, it's hard to hire people,” said McDonough.

McDonough also pointed to the uncertainty of the Insight Hospitals. Because of the building's location, it shares electricity, water and sewer with Hillside Rehabilitation hospital.

The Trumbull County Health Department offered the second floor of their building to the dispatch center rent free. The dispatch center would still be responsible for utilities, and any renovations to the space.

The dispatch center got approval from the 911 program review committee to move forward with the Health Department’s offer.

McDonough is looking into how much money renovations and utilities would cost before requesting funding from the commissioners.

“We need to work with the architects and the consultants to figure out what we can put in that space, so the commissioners can work hard on their end to try and find funding to make this project happen,” said McDonough.