Springfield considering withholding payment for dispatch services until concerns ‘fully resolved’

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield’s mayor raised concerns about ongoing operational issues with the Clark County Combined Dispatch Center.

During Tuesday’s city commission meeting, Mayor Rob Rue read a statement on behalf of the commission.

“The city faces ongoing challenges with this arrangement, despite understanding from the onset that our city’s demand exceeds the rest of the county by 10-fold,” Rue said.

He said Springfield has “encountered significant operational issues” including a system that is not fully utilized and difficulties with records management.

Rue claimed that the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system has operated at less than 50 percent of its capabilities, and impacted how emergency personnel respond to emergencies.

>> RELATED: Access to computer dispatch system restored for Clark Co. law enforcement

News Center 7 previously reported that earlier this month the virtual environment used to access the CAD system went down, resulting in Springfield officers relying entirely on radio dispatching, Springfield said.

Clark County said that they worked to rebuild the network over 72 hours to accommodate updates to their 9-1-1 software, and were able to get the virtual environment back up and running.

Springfield claimed this outage caused “delays in dispatching and responding to calls for service”, however, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said that they “don’t have data to show the connectivity issues have actually delayed responses.”

Tuesday night, Rue reiterated that this outage “severely comprised” dispatch services during that time.

“We will also evaluate the withholding of our next payment due in July and placing it into an escrow fund until our concerns are fully resolved to ensure that the first responders can perform their duties effectively and safely,” Rue said.

News Center 7 has reached out to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office for a statement.

We will update this story if we receive a response.

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