The Elmore County Commission honored National Telecommunicator Week with a proclamation at its meeting last week.
The commission welcomed some of the county’s dispatchers and Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin to the meeting to mark the week of April 14-20 as National Telecommunicators Week.
“This group has one of the toughest jobs because even before law enforcement gets on the scene, they have to have conversations and deal with an emergency where citizens have called before anybody else,” Elmore County Commission chair Bart Mercer said.
The county has three dispatch centers in Millbrook, Tallassee and Wetumpka with a total of 43 dispatchers.
“They help keep everything calm,” Franklin said.
Commissioner Dennis Hill has been in law enforcement for 34 years talking to many of the dispatchers over the radio. He walked into the dispatch center in Wetumpka last year as a shooting call came in.
“When I walked out I was shaking,” Hill said. “I was going, ‘How in the world do they do it?’ They control the chaos.”
The meeting was held in conjunction with county government day where about 500 students from across Elmore County visited the courthouse to get a civics lesson including a commission meeting. The commissioners welcomed the students and challenged them to do well in the future.
In other action the Elmore County Commission:
• Approved minutes of the March 25 meeting.
• Approved the memorandum of warrants for March 16-29.
• Approved a proclamation declaring April as Child Abuse Preventation Month.
• Authorized the commission chair to execute documents related to the Association of County Commissions of Alabama Self-Insurance Funds Safety Coordinator Resolution.
• Approved plats for Harmony Cove Phase II and Phase III.
The next meeting of the Elmore County Commission is scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday, April 22.
