By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn made a pitch Thursday morning for $3.4 million in COVID relief funds for a dispatch system that could benefit the entire county.
The proposal was made to the Wood County Commissioners, who have a total of $25.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to distribute.
The Wood County Sheriff’s Office currently uses a computer aided dispatch system that is linked to a records management system and a jail management system. Several first responder entities in the county – including Bowling Green and BGSU – already benefit from the dispatching information, Wasylyshyn said.
The current system was purchased in 1999. The company that owns the system has shifted its focus to another system, meaning the one used by Wood County is on borrowed time, the sheriff said.
“We’re on a sinking ship,” he said. “The writing is on the wall – we have to make a change.”
An improved system, through Enterprise, uses the Cloud for storage, and is designed to serve multiple agencies – unlike the sheriff’s office’s current system that just morphed into serving several first responder agencies, Wasylyshyn said.
“That’s been my dream all along,” he said of one countywide system.
Enterprise has offered a 50% discount to all agencies currently on the system that agree to migrate to the new system. Smaller volunteer departments can pick and choose which components they want, the sheriff said.
The $3.4 million would pay for a five-year service contract plus Cloud storage. That means local first responder departments would not have to pay anything for the first five years, Wasylyshyn said.
“It truly benefits everyone in the county,” except for the city of Fostoria, he said.
The county commissioners reacted positively to the request, Wasylyshyn said.
“I think they understand it and are onboard,” he said. It’s just a matter of how much of the request will be funded. “They clearly understand I have to do something.”
