Buncombe County commissioners will consider approving crisis pay stipends for workers in the 911 Call Center this week in hopes of addressing critical staffing shortages. “The entire public safety system starts with the 911 center,” said Rafael Baptista, Buncombe County strategy & innovation director.
According to Baptista, the county has a 42% vacancy rate currently for 911 telecommunicators. “We have the fifth highest call volume for 911 centers in the state of North Carolina, despite being only the eighth largest counties,” he said.
The high number of openings and increase in call volume is also impacting the county’s response times.
“For a priority fire, and EMS calls, those calls we really want to be dispatching within 64 seconds, where we are currently is at three minutes and 31 seconds,” Baptista said.