Clear Creek County considers plan to move 911 dispatch services to Jeffco

In a spirited, hours-long meeting with the Clear Creek County Board of County Commissioners, residents of Clear Creek and representatives from municipalities within the county asked questions about a plan to move 911 dispatch services outside the sheriff's office as a cost-cutting measure (as well as a stability upgrade for residents) to JeffCom911 in Jefferson County. 

Clear Creek County's board members said they expect the move to drop their yearly costs for operating dispatch from $1,700,000 to around $500,000, and right now the county is trying to pinch every penny it can. The most recent budget outlook puts the county on a collision course with bankruptcy in the year 2030, due to declining revenue with the slowed activity at the Henderson Mine. 

Then, there's the outages. Clear Creek County has seen more than one outage in the 2023 year already for 911 calls, where residents were alerted over Facebook and other platforms to call a separate number if they needed emergency responses. Board members argued the "economy of scale" with a larger operation like JeffCom911 would mean those kinds of outages would become a thing of the past, should they go down that route. 

JeffCom911 already covers a significant portion of Colorado with its dispatch area, and that would only grow if they agreed to add Clear Creek County. 

The board of county commissioners fielded questions about alternatives to this plan, potentially using Gilpin County's Dispatch team instead, but the board, operating with information from a study, was confident JeffCom911 was the right choice. 

Lynette Kelsey, Police Judge (or, in other words, the mayor) of Georgetown (but not actually the mayor because that's a dog) said she would take what she learned back to her own board and let them know the situation.

"I walked in expecting to hear more about what was being offered, what is going to change for Georgetown," Kelsey said. "We have been very happy with the quality of the service for the county but we also understood it was not really a sustainable plan."

"The cost increases were far outpacing the revenue streams, so we knew it was going to have to change."

Her main concern was making sure JeffCom911 would put the same kind of priority on Clear Creek County as their own dispatch center (operated through the Clear Creek County Sheriff's Office) does. 

"They need to make sure the response happens as quickly as possible, heart attacks don't wait," Kelsey said. "We understand that emergencies take priority (over non-emergencies) but you also don't want to keep being shuffled to the end of the line eternally, you want somebody to respond to whatever it is that is rocking your world."

Clear Creek County Public Information Officer Megan Hiler explained that even though there would be change, the county is not abandoning its employees currently working dispatch, which she said it is incredibly grateful for. 

"JeffCom has even agreed to take on our current Clear Creek County Dispatchers," Hiler said. "I know there is a lot of misinterpretation out there that we are just going to get rid of our dispatch and fire everyone there, that is definitely not the case."

During the meeting Tuesday morning, representatives from Idaho Springs were quick to back up the plan, saying it was the best option available right now to them and everyone in the county. Hiler said the county hopes other cities will agree too. 

"We are going to move forward with potentially going with JeffCom and we really hope that the rest of the municipalities in Clear Creek County will come with us," Hiler said. "We think this is a win-win for everyone."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story misstated the amount of money the county would save. That's been corrected to reflect the accurate amount.