Boone County hires new emergency dispatchers, but there’s still a shortage

The Boone County Fiscal Court approved a pair of hires in an attempt to slice into the county’s emergency dispatcher staffing shortage.

The Public Safety Communications Center was down eight dispatchers and one supervisor, Boone County Human Resources Director Lori Zombek said during the panel’s June 27 meeting.

But now, Zombek said during Tuesday’s meeting, the center is now down six telecommunications staffers, with more potential help on the way.

“I will say, though, the new Job Target product that we are using – I got 20 applications for dispatchers just over Sunday – Monday,” Zombek said. “We’ve got three that we are testing right now. Our current recruiting items are working, so it’s good news.”

Job Target is a company that assists the county with specific, sponsored job postings on websites for targeted positions, Zombek said.

“It’s encouraging, having that many applications,” County Judge/Executive Gary Moore said. 

The matters developed before the COVID-19 pandemic, Boone County Administrator Jeff Earlywine said.

“Our center is like many in our region, and around the country, that have been challenged with recruiting the next generation of public safety dispatchers,” Earlywine said.

Retirements led to dispatcher staffing vacancies, resignations and a smaller pool of available applicants,” Earlywine said.

He added that the dispatching center has worked closely with the county’s human resources department to aggressively market the agency and recruit applicants from a variety of sources and backgrounds. 

“The Fiscal Court has approved significant increases in dispatcher pay within the last 12 to 24 months to make our county more competitive in recruiting new hires,” Earlywine said.

A new dispatcher hire with no experience would get $25.86 an hour, with additional shift differential pay and fringe benefits, Earlywine said. He expressed the county’s dispatcher staffing challenges have not impacted the Public Safety Communications Center’s eight-hour shift structure. 

“It has resulted in additional workload and overtime for current staff to ensure that communication service levels are not adversely impacted,” Earlywine said. “Our current staff has been remarkable at stepping up to assume temporary increases in workload assignments.” 

The present dispatcher arrangement is a short-term proposition that must be addressed by recruiting new dispatchers to return staffing levels to full authorized strength, Earlywine said.