Former Rogue River Police Chief Jim Williams, who is currently the chaplain at Emergency Communications of Southern Oregon (ECSO), delivered the invocation at the Rogue River City Council meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27, and Nolan asked him to say a few words about his experiences at the dispatch center.
Williams described the dispatchers as “the tip of the spear,” the link between the emergency about which the call is made and police and fire, and said the mental health of dispatchers is always a concern.
“There are often, they don’t get closure,” Williams said. “They hear the pain, the suffering, and what we don’t know is that when that call ends, they’ve got 16 other calls that have come in.”
He offered the council a tour of ECSO facilities in Central Point.
City Administrator Ryan Nolan, the city’s liaison to ECSO, said that the dispatch center currently has 33 of 37 spots filled, with three dispatchers in training and 14 of 15 administrative positions filled. Those are better numbers than they’ve had for over 10 years, Nolan said.
He said ECSO is working on a new fee structure because the dedicated resource it has had available has not kept pace with ECSO’s costs.
ECSO is still online for the planned October live date for the new regional radio system.
Council member Barb Hilty, the council’s liaison to the Rogue River Chamber of Commerce, said that the group’s walking map of the city is available through the Chamber’s website at rogueriverchamber.com, and that stamps with a QR code corresponding to the map are available at each location on the map.
Hilty also said local citizen Gary Howard is sponsoring a banner to honor firefighters, police officers, and city public works employees that will be placed at the gazebo at Rooster Park.
Dee Copley, the council’s liaison to the Rogue River Community Center, said the center received a $5,000 donation. With the rising cost of electricity, the Community Center board is considering installing a programmable thermostat and said the center is looking for a group to which to donate its old van after it recently received a new one. Since the center was donated the old van, it cannot resell it but can only donate it to another entity.
The Red Cross asked the Community Center whether it would be willing to serve as an evacuation center. Its board agreed to do so and concluded that it should invest in a couple of gas-powered generators and seek grant funding to purchase them.
Copley, also reporting on the Tree City USA Committee, said that the committee had been in discussion with Nolan with concerns that the applications for volunteer help are so rigorous that they deter people from volunteering, adding that Nolan had suggested some changes and that the committee would discuss potential changes with city staff and/or City Council.
The Tree City USA Committee is looking for two committee members to join its current three members.
“It’s quite a bit of work for just three people,” she said. “We also have a good little crew that spends time out in the parks, and they spent three work days during June and July, mostly at the Fleming Memorial Park, just doing maintenance and clean-up and watching the condition of some of the trees. A couple of them are not flourishing.”
She said Rogue River Elementary School had asked for recommendations for playground trees from the Tree City, and that the FFA chapter at Rogue River Junior Senior High School had expressed an interest in possibly working on projects along with the committee.
Mayor Pam VanArsdale, reporting on the recent Rogue Valley Council of Governments meeting, said the old Central Point Public Works building that Food and Friends is purchasing had just closed escrow, allowing Food and Friends to use it as its commercial kitchen. She said that as of the fiscal year ending June 30, Food and Friends had prepared and served 251,227 meals, including 23,407 congregate meals served at one location and 227,820 home-delivered meals.
Reach reporter Brian Mortensen at [email protected] or 541-582-1707.