The purpose of this effort is to provide safer and more efficient service to the Township's residents and first responders.

The Township is forced to pursue outsourcing because of the need for extensive equipment upgrades and technology upgrades, as well as staffing level shortfalls.  The radios and other electronic hardware and software used by the current, in-house operation is out of date making it less effective than what is used by other departments.  At the same time, Franklin County and the State of Ohio are moving toward 9-1-1 systems that can hon in on calls and texts from wireless devices, the source of a growing majority of such calls.  Only certain communications centers are designed to be wireless centers and Prairie Township is far from having the capacity to be on this list.  Finally, the guidelines state that there should be more than one communications tech, or dispatcher, in the facility at all times.  With the Township's small scale operation, this is neither affordable, nor physically possible.  The Township would be hard pressed to get its dispatching operations up to speed regarding any of these factors, let along all three.

This is why the Board of Trustees has authorized the Fire Department and Administration to explore other options that will insure the safety of all residents and firefighters.

You may contact Tracy Hatmaker, Prairie Township Administrator at 614-878-3317 ext. 114 to discuss any questions that you may have.