KIMBALL -- The possibility of the Kimball Police Department moving dispatch services to Cheyenne County sparked a heated debate in the city council meeting Thursday night. 

The controversy began following a Cheyenne County Commissioner’s Meeting where the director of Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center spoke about the possibility of the Kimball Police Department transferring their dispatching services from the current Comm Center to theirs.

The City Council and KPD say this was just part of a larger discussion between the city and law enforcement agencies, but no decision has been made to move the dispatch services. 

CCECC Director Heidi Gillespie visited the Kimball City Council meeting Thursday night to provide information about their Comm Center and answer any questions the public would have.

Community members vocalized their disapproval if the city council chooses to move forward with the process. 

The council stressed that this is not a “done deal” as community members were feeling like it is and that they are purely gathering researching their options to make an informed decision. 

“We are trying to study the situation and are not making a quick decision,” said Mayor John Morrison. “This is not us thinking the Sheriff is doing a bad job. We’re trying to find the right solution for everyone. The only way to do that is to look at our options.” 

It was not directly stated where this came from and what originally sparked the need for a change in dispatch services. 

The consensus from the community is that whatever the issue may be should be dealt with locally, and the city should not need to seek dispatch services outside of the county. Along the same lines, community members do not want their tax dollars to be going toward another county.

One community member said, “Let’s as a community work together, let’s figure out the issue amongst each other.”

Chief of Police Jose Ruiz responded, saying he and Sheriff David Hottell have discussed the issue at hand and plan to meet again to discuss other solutions. 

“This meeting tonight is just gathering information to see what our options are,” Ruiz said. “If there is a solution to keep locally, that’s what we want to do. At the end of the day when things get bad, I have no doubt in my mind that he and his deputies would be there to help us, and I know they have no doubt that we would be there to help them.”

Another community member said the solution may lie in further training for the Kimball dispatch team. 

“I would like you guys to look at that to see how we can utilize these resources with the least amount of expenditure to help restore cohesion [in the community],” she said. 

One of the main concerns brought up by Fire Chief Andrew Bohac is a lag in communication getting to the other emergency services if the police department is through a different dispatch system. 

Gillespie said their system does not currently have the capability to page the Kimball Fire Department directly. 

Gillespie explained that if they were to take a 911 call from Kimball County, they would take down all the necessary information and input it into the system and at the same time, the appropriate parties - in this case being KPD – would see the information on their end and be able to respond immediately. It is unclear from there how the other emergency services would be notified if needed. 

Hottell voiced concerns about the Sheriff’s Departments’ budget being cut due to the change. The city pays the county roughly $100,000 per year for Dispatch Services, $69,000 of that being for the Police Department Dispatch. 

Council Member Creg Pike said, however, that the funding would not be automatically taken away from the department. 

The public is concerned about where the funding would come from to move forward with a decision like this, and the council said they have not explored the money aspect yet to know how much it would cost and where the money would come from. 

Gillespie said that Duele County’s dispatch service runs through the CCECC, and the total cost for the last fiscal year was $64,170.21.