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New law could mean fewer 911 dispatch centers in Rock Island County

A new Illinois law could mean fewer dispatch centers in Rock Island County. It requires that certain counties with more than one 911 call center reduce the numb...

A new Illinois law could mean fewer dispatch centers in Rock Island County. It requires that certain counties with more than one 911 call center reduce the number by half.

Moline and East Moline merged their 911 centers together a few years ago and now it looks like they'll have to make that move again.

"This funding could be reduced in the future and would not be available to all 911 centers meaning that the individual municipalities might have to start picking up the cost," said Moline's city administrator, Lew Steinbrecher.

To save the state money, the law requires that any county with a population of at least 250,000 people with more than two call centers, cut the number of dispatch centers by half. Rock Island County has six, but it's not clear who has to move. Rock Island just recently opened up it's brand new police station and a new station is under construction in Silvis. East Moline, Moline and Milan have discussed a possible merger. Possibly relocating dispatch to the third floor of Milan's village hall.

"We have had some primary discussions with some of the other municipalities and the county sheriff`s department but at this point it's just us three moving forward," said Steinbrecher.

Even though it might take a lot of work to do so, Steinbrecher says it would be a positive change, "At this point we`re actually looking at securing future funding as well as containing future costs by doing this."

The municipalities have to give a consolidation plan to the state by June and their goal to have a new dispatch center up and running by summer of 2017.

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