UPDATED: Saturday, February 20, 2010 --- 5:06 p.m.

Tonight, changes to the way the 911 Center operates in Dane County.

The changes come after a week of fighting, some of it in court, with the City of Madison.

It's been a week of dueling press conferences, accusations of lies and frustration, all of it ending with Dane County and the City of Madison facing off in a courtroom.

But now the focus is back where it started, the Dane County 911 Center.

Center Director John Dejung says, "I've been worn down a little bit this week but seriously we'll roll with the punches."

Early Saturday morning the center went live with a new auto attendant system.

It's basically a phone tree that will answer all 7 digit non-emergency calls coming in to the operators.

The goal is to get rid of some of the non emergency calls sucking up valuable dispatcher time and help prioritize the non-emergency calls they do have to answer.

The most important goal is making sure someone who calls 911 never has to to wait.

Call Taker Thomas Vaughan says, "It's not as much how much time it's saving me but it's making me available for more urgent calls."

Callers will have several opportunities to get off of the recording and speak to a live operator if they need to.

Because of complaints from the City of Madison and a judges ruling the center won't be able to get rid of Madison parking calls like they had hoped, however they are already noticing a difference.

Dejung says, "We're nipping around the edges right now but it helps."

It's help that these operators say could save lives.

The city and county are still fighting over the parking calls issue.

Both sides will file legal briefs and will discuss at a later date as this goes through the normal court process.

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UPDATED February 19, 2010 -- 4:20 p.m.

A Dane County Judge has granted a temporary injunction to against the county's new 911 automated system, but says the bulk of the system can still move forward. The county can go forward with its plans to start using the auto-attendant system tomorrow, but cannot forward calls about parking complaints in the city of Madison back to the city--dispatchers must handle those calls. In its original plan, the county had planned to either charge the city for handling those parking complaints, or forward them to the city. The city has maintained both options are unfair.

The other issue of whether County Executive Kathleen Falk had the authority to overrule the 911 Board's vote earlier in the week, in which the board voted to delay the implementation of the new system, will be decided in court at a later date.
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UPDATE Posted Friday, February 19, 2010 -- 12:41pm
By Zac Schultz

Madison: The City of Madison has officially applied for a temporary restraining order against Dane County, to prevent it from putting a new operating procedure in place for the 911 center.

The lawsuit was filed in Dane County Court Friday morning at 9:54am. Judge Juan Colas will hear arguments Friday at 2pm.

The City of Madison claims Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is usurping the authority of the 911 Center Board by unilaterally deciding to change operating procedures this weekend.

Earlier this week, Falk and 911 Center Director John Dejung announced they would go ahead with a new automated call system. Under the system, non-emergency calls typically handled by 911 dispatchers would instead be directed to a call tree. Falk says dispatchers would no longer dispatch parking complaints for the City of Madison, unless the city agrees to pay $33,000 a year. The 911 center currently dispatches for all parking calls across the county, but under the new plan only Madison calls Monday through Friday would not be dispatched.

Madison's City Attorney, Michael May, argues this is a major change in practice, and it would cost the city $100,000 to set up their own parking dispatch call center.

The 911 Center Board voted not to go ahead with the new system, but Falk says she can overrule the board because she is allowed to do so on issues with "major fiscal effect." City Attorney May argues this is not a major fiscal effect because the 911 center does not need to hire new staff to handle Madison's parking calls.

May writes, "If the County Executive may unilaterally establish operating practices for the Dispatch Center by claiming a policy has a major fiscal effect, the provisions of the County ordinance granting the authority to establish operating practices to the Center Board would become meaningless."

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UPDATED Friday, February 19, 2010---10:51 a.m.

From NBC 15's Zac Schultz:

City of Madison attorney has filed a request for a restraining order in Dane County Court. A Dane County spokesman tells NBC 15 a hearing on the matter has been set for 2 p.m. today. Stay with NBC 15 and NBC 15.com for continuing coverage.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 18, 2010 --- 10:50 p.m.

Update from NBC15's Chris Woodard:

Tonight 23 County Board members signed a resolution trying to stop the 911 Center changes from happening on Saturday. The board members agreed with Madison's position that there needs to be more public education and approval from the Public Safety Communications Board.

Madison's City Attorney plans to file a restraining order tomorrow morning, hoping to stop any significant changes at the Dane County 911 Center. At a press conference today, Mayor Dave was joined my many local leaders - including the police chiefs from seven local departments, the Middleton mayor, Deforest Village President, a representative from the Dane County Towns Association, and two city council members. All say they stand behind Madison's objection to the implementation of the new automated 911 system scheduled to start Saturday.

The group assembled has two objections. First, they say the change is happening too soon, and there was not enough public education before the changeover. Second, they all share concerns over the parking enforcement issue--in which the county is asking the city to reimburse $33,000 to handle parking complaints. The group says such a move creates a slippery slope, and may lead to other cases of the county charging local jurisdictions for specific dispatch services.

The restraining order City Attorney Michael May plans to file states that County Executive Kathleen Falk does not have the authority to overrule the 911 Board, which voted to delay the implementation of the new system. The county's corporation counsel has previously said Falk does have that authority, saying she has such authority in matters of great fiscal impact.

If the restraining order is not successful in delaying the implementation of the new automated system, public safety officials from the various jurisdictions assured that public safety would not be in jeopardy.

County leaders reacted to the fact that the city of Madison is planning to file a restraining order Thursday. Sheriff Mahoney, 911 Director John Dejung and County Executive Kathleen Falk all responded to the city's plan.

Mahoney said that he believe at no time should the city or the county ever take legal action against the other when both share the same number one priority: public safety. He says both sides should be at the table working on a compromise.

John Dejung said, "Not in my wildest dreams did I think a flap like this would come from trying to be progressive." And Falk, when asked how things had gotten to this point, said the situation got to this point because the county has been trying to talk about this new system and negotiate for months, but the city wouldn't budge. And since the audit said things needed to happen quickly, she decided it was time.

Late tonight a spokesperson from the Mayor's office says those allegations are simply untrue. He said the mayor was trying to negotiate with Falk all the way up to today's press conference and told her he did not want to file a restraining order, but would if she was not willing to compromise.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 18, 2010 --- 2:45 p.m.

From NBC15's Chris Woodard. The City of Madison attorney plans to file a restraining order tomorrow --- claiming Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has no authority to overrule the 911 Board.

Stay with NBC15 and NBC15.com for continuing coverage.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 18, 2010 --- 12:55 p.m.

Mayor Dave Cieslewicz will join community and public safety leaders to discuss proposed changes to the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center operations this afternoon.

NBC15's Chris Woodard will be there. He'll have LIVE reports on NBC15 News at 4pm, 5pm and 6pm, as well as updates on NBC15.com.

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UPDATED: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 -- 6:15 p.m.
By NBC15's Dana Brueck

The Dane County executive's office says it's moving forward with changes to 911 center operations despite the possibility of legal action from the City of Madison.

Tuesday, the county executive held a news conference to announce a new auto attendant, designed to handle calls to seven digit, non-emergency numbers. it's supposed to launch this weekend.

The idea being dispatchers at the 9-1-1 center would be better able to answer actual emergencies.

But some of the parties involved in 911 center operations, like Dane County board members and others, say the announcement was a surprise to them.

"There isn't sufficient time to educate the public that there will be a massive change. Instead of talking to a human when you call a non-emergency number, there will be this phone tree," Dane County Supervisor Melanie Hampton says.

Hampton's also a member of the county's public protection and judiciary committee.

She supports implementation of the auto attendant system ... but says during a meeting in January she had expressed some concerns about it to the 911 center director.

Then, Tuesday, another issue developed over non-emergency parking calls in Madison.

The county executive has notified Madison that the county will charge 33-thousand dollars for dispatching non emergency parking calls... or allow them to go the auto attendant.

"If there's snow, that can mean .. problems with police response, fire response," Madison Alder and member of the 911 center board Paul Skidmore says, "What the county wants to do ... place that on voicemail ... which we don't think is good policy or legal."

The 911 center board referred both issues to its next meeting.

Skidmore says based upon the agreement in place, he doesn't believe the county has the authority to charge the city.

The Mayor's office says it's looking at the city's legal options.

But, Kathleen Falk's office says the county intends to move forward, saying the auto attendant system has been in discussion for months... before various bodies, as part of last year's audit, in which consultants recommended it take effect as soon as possible.

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UPDATED: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 --- 5:30 p.m.
REPORTER: Chris Woodard

An argument between Dane County and the City of Madison over changes to the 911 center is getting nasty.

Both sides say they have the public's best interest in mind.

The argument centers around a new computer answering system set to begin Saturday and late this afternoon a Dane County representative said they will go through with the changes despite the objections of the city and the 911 center board.

Since the tragic murder of UW student Brittany Zimmermann Dane County's 911 center has been under the microscope.

One of their dispatchers mishandled a call and it led to an audit of the center and a list of recommended changes.

County Executive Kathleen Falk says, "We are on task and on schedule in delivering on all 13 recommendations."

But now not everyone wants that change.

Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says, "I've been urging the County Executive to put it off, to spend more time to educate the public and get the buy in of the 911 board."

Late this morning county officials gathered to announce a new auto attendant system

This computer system will answer all non emergency calls to 10-digit dispatch numbers.

The goal is to give call takers more time to deal with the real emergencies, the 911 calls.

Dane County Medical Director Paul Stiegler says, "This is going to help give more time to our call taker dispatchers to really help do the job that they need to do for people that are sick injured and having true emergencies."

The city of Madison has two complaints.

First, they say the system needs more testing and the public needs to know more about it.

Second, they don't want to have to pay the county to handle the non emergency parking complaints, something the county did before this new system

Cieslewicz says, "It's simply unfair. The county will continue to dispatch parking calls in other parts of the county, just not the City of Madison."

The county says since Madison uses a parking patrol, not sworn officers it's not their job to dispatch that patrol.

Falk says, "The city makes about 5 million in parking revenue so they can choose to commit 33-thousand for the county to do it, or we don't need to do it. It's their choice completely."

Late this afternoon the 911 center board did not approve the changes, referring it to their meeting in March.

But a county representative says they will still go through with the changes Saturday because as they read the ordinance they have the final say.

The city responded by saying they will pursue any action necessary to make sure the system does not change.

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UPDATED Tuesday, February 16, 2010 --- 12:09 p.m.

Press Release from the Office of the County Executive:

Dane County 911 Debuts Audit-Recommended Technology to Prioritize Non-Emergency Calls

911 Center Implementing Recommendations of 2009 Matrix Audit, Focusing on Core Public Safety Mission

Acting on a recommendation of the February 2009 audit, the Dane County 911 Center is implementing new technology to help reduce the high volume of non-emergency, non-911 calls that for years have been answered by dispatchers.

A review of the 911 Center performed by Matrix Consulting Group found 72% of the calls handled by the center are non-911 calls, including calls that come in on publicly listed, seven-digit, non-emergency phone lines. These calls range in nature from people looking for information on winter parking, driving directions, or those trying to contact local agencies across the county outside of normal business hours.

The new “auto-attendant” technology being debuted by the center is consistent with the audit’s recommendation and will help directly connect callers with the services they’re looking for, without, whenever appropriate, misusing a 911 Center dispatcher’s time. The easy-to-use automation technology will not be used on any call coming in on a 911 line. In addition, any caller to the non-emergency numbers will have the ability to quickly connect with a dispatcher if they’re in need of an immediate public safety (police, fire, ambulance) response.

This technology, while new to Dane County, is commonly used on non-emergency lines to other dispatch centers across Wisconsin. It recognizes both English and Spanish speakers.

It is estimated the “auto-attendant” will result in a nearly 10% reduction in the number of calls needing to be handled by a dispatcher, ensuring - - as the Matrix audit stated -“the focus of the center should be on handling and dispatching emergency calls for service - not on serving as a reception center for incoming business phone calls.”

Over the course of the past year, the 911 Center has diligently worked to implement the audit by increasing staff, moving forward with the purchase of new technology like a new computer aided dispatch system, and designing and planning a $1.3-million renovation to the 911 Center including construction of 22 brand-new work stations complete with the most state-of-the-art technology. The county has budgeted and spent nearly $6-million on staff and technology improvements since the audit. (See the attached memo from 911 Director John Dejung for a complete summary of progress on the 2009 audit)

“From recruiting and adding more highly trained staff to purchasing top-notch technology, 911 Director John Dejung and his staff have worked hard to implement the recommendations of the Matrix audit,” County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “Given his commitment to continuous improvement and excellence, Director Dejung has Dane County’s 911 Center on a similar track for success that he earned while director of the Minneapolis/St. Paul 911 Center.” Under Dejung’s direction, the Minneapolis 911 Center was awarded 911 Center of the Year in 2008 for its coordinated response to the I-35 bridge collapse.

A January report to the County Board showed the 911 Center is answering 911 calls, on average, in a single ring. This is better than the national 911 call answering standard. (Attached, please find a 2009 Dane County 911 Center call report summary)

“The auto-attendant is yet one more feature that will allow the Dane County 911 Center to become both more effective and efficient,” Dejung said. “The goal is to maximize the 911 Center’s ability to focus on those callers who really need a timely response to their location from our public safety responders; whether it’s law enforcement, fire, or emergency medical personnel. As always, if you need immediate public safety assistance, call 911. Otherwise, please call the non-emergency phone numbers listed in the phone book for your community.”

The county took the rare step of amending the budget mid-year in 2009 to secure the $60,000 needed to ensure the new “auto-attendant” technology was implemented as quickly as possible, as called for in the Matrix audit.

Since last fall, Dejung has routinely brought together representatives of the Madison Police Department, Dane County Sheriff’s Department and Madison Fire Department to help plan for implementation of the new program. He has also held a number of briefings for the Dane County Chiefs of Police Association, Public Safety Communications Center Board, and City of Madison Public Safety Review Board to help answer questions and be sure they’re familiar with how the technology will work.

This coming weekend, 15 911 dispatchers will be honored at the annual Dane County EMS banquet for their role in providing life-saving instructions over the phone while emergency responders were on their way to help citizens with life-threatening emergencies. These stories are summarized at the 911 Center’s website dane911.com

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UPDATED Tuesday, February 16, 2010 --- 9:05 a.m.

NOTE: NBC15 will be at today's press conference. Stay with NBC15 and NBC15.com for continuing coverage.

Press Release:

Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, 911 Director John Dejung, and Sheriff Dave Mahoney will hold a press conference on Tuesday, February 16th to announce the debut of new technology to help address the high number of non-emergency calls received by the 911 Center.

This new technology was a recommendation of a February, 2009 outside audit of the 911 Center performed by Matrix Consulting Group.

In addition, an update will be provided on the progress achieved in the year since that audit was completed.

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POSTED: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 --- 6:35 p.m.

911 operators are often the difference between life and death, hailed as heroes at times and at times blamed for tragedy.

Some calls so absurd you have to hear them to believe are making their job even more difficult.

In this special assignment we take you inside Dane County's 911 center.

The ringing is non stop. Some calls are a matter of life and death, others not so much.

Every time these operators are at the other end of the line.

Lisa Hayes says, "The nature of what we hear sometimes can really haunt you."

It's not a job for for everyone. It's fast paced, high stress and increasingly frustrating.

Operator Todd Meister says, "We're not information. We're not AAA. I guess it would be nice if people used a little bit more common sense."

Non-emergency calls are on the rise, sucking up dispatchers time and forcing those with a real emergency to wait.

Every 911 call that comes in and is waiting to be answered shows up in a queue. When someone calls and it's not an emergency it means operators are too busy to take the important calls."

Meister says, "Someone who's having a heart attack can't wait for me to answer a question about how to cook a turkey and it happens every day."

The calls are a problem across our area. Across the nation it's amazing what 911 call takers have to deal with.

Despite the headaches the message in Dane County is when in doubt, call.

Center Director John Dejung says, "We don't want people hesitating to call 911. On the other hand we want to make sure that people know it's really not cool to call 911 to get the schedule for the bus or what time is the Badger game."

Meister says, "I had one gentleman one afternoon call. He was doing his laundry and wasn't sure if he was supposed to wash his whites in hot or cold water."

The crazy calls and hundreds of misdials are something Dane County operators are dealing with under more scrutiny since the now infamous call from murder victim Brittany Zimmermann in April 2008.

911 received a call from her cell phone but failed to call the number back.

In the firestorm that followed 911 director Joe Norwick resigned.

John Dejung brings new leadership but his staff's every action is under the microscope and to some, Their reputation tarnished.

Meister says, "One mistake gets scrutinized like that. People need to realize that everyone in here is a human being. Mistakes are made."

Hayes says, "I don't do my job for the media. I love helping people and I know when I come in here I give 110 percent and I do the best that I can."

For Hayes, after 7 years on the job, all it takes is one call to remind her why it's all worth it.

Recently, she served as a lifeline to a panicked woman . She helped the woman save the life of her choking grandfather.

Hayes says, "That's a high that you live off of for quite a while."

Between 911 calls and 7 digit, non emergency calls, Dane County operators answer at least 1,500 calls every day.

To help conserve their time they're in the process of installing a new Auto Attendant system that will automatically answer the 7 digit calls and shuffle the caller through a series of questions to determine if they really need to talk to an operator.

Of course this will not affect the 911 emergency calls.