By Rose Laudicina
Staff Writer
Two seats are open on the Orange County Emergency Services Workgroup, and the county is looking to residents to fill them.
The workgroup was formed to allow major stakeholders such as fire and police chiefs to have input on what improvements and changes are made to the county’s emergency services.
At its last meeting, on Dec. 13, the Orange County Board of Commissioners voted to add four seats to the workgroup, which had originally been proposed to consist of eight members.
Two of the seats added were immediately filled by Commissioner Earl McKee and county medical director Jane Brice. The additional vacant seats are to be filled by Orange County residents.
Residents selected will serve alongside two appointees from the fire chief’s association, a municipal fire chief, an appointee from the South Orange Recue Squad, two municipal police chiefs and the emergency services director.
“Everyone that is [presently] a part of the workgroup is involved in some type of emergency management services … and general public safety in some capacity,†Michael Talbert, assistant county manager, said. “The citizens can take an objective look at the issues and say, ‘Hmmmm, does this make sense or not?’â€
While some commissioners were initially hesitant to allow residents to serve on the workgroup because of the potentially technical nature of discussions, McKee argued that their input as beneficiaries of the services was important.
“The citizens appointed will bring the perspective of a possible user standpoint as well as a taxpayer’s standpoint,†he said.
Commissioners also expressed interest in having the two resident representatives be from different parts of the county, perhaps one from a municipality and one from the rural areas. However, since the commissioners did not vote on this criterion, it’s not clear if this will be a determining factor when selecting residents.
The workgroup will be looking into ways to improve emergency services in the county, including fixing the Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders system (VIPER), which has multiple dead spots throughout the county that can cause safety issues for firefighters and police responding to emergency calls.
Interested residents must submit an application to the county by Jan. 13. The application deadline was initially set for Jan. 4, but because of the holidays and a lack of applicants, the county decided to extend it.
The two residents selected will be appointed at the commissioners’ Jan. 24 meeting, with the first workgroup meeting to be held a week to 10 days later.
At the first meeting, the workgroups will set the charge and parameters for what they will be studying, Talbert said. The group will also work alongside any consultants the county hires to help determine improvements.
McKee said he expects the workgroup to meet as often as twice a month for anywhere from six to nine months.
“This is an important issue, not only for the commissioners, but for our entire public-safety arena,†Talbert said.
The workgroup application can be found on the Orange County website at http://www.co.orange.nc.us/boards/apply.asp