Montgomery Councilman Oronde Mitchell recently discussed increasing concerns with the city's 911 call center, including lengthy wait times when the phone is picked up.
Issues with the city's 911 call center have grown in recent months. Both citizens and Montgomery City Councilmembers have told first and second-hand accounts of extended wait times after calling 911, while others report nobody answering the phones at all.
In a November 19 meeting, Councilman Ed Grimes inquired about solutions with Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed's Chief of Staff, Jerime Reid, since Reed was not present. Grimes detailed an event in which an Air Force Master Sergeant at Maxwell Air Force Base waited over an hour on the phone to check on his deceased father.
"It seems like every other day I'm getting calls that we have slow response times [with] 911," Grimes said. "I had a Chief Master Seargent at Maxwell; his father passed away the other day. They couldn't get him. Got to his dad's house, he was dead. It may not have made a difference, but after an hour and ten minutes, 911 not answering, he finally realized he knew a policeman and called somebody. What can we do? Can we merge? Does the county have a 911? Can we have one 911 system? Because this is not working."
Reid responded by saying that the city's audits of 911 calls show that the majority of calls are answered and that the "911 folks are answering every possible call they can." He also noted that the 56 positions open at the center are only staffed with 26.
On a Thursday appearance on Talk 93.1, "News and Views" with Joey Clark, Mitchell said that bolstering the 911 call center was a top priority moving into 2025. Mitchell echoed Grimes in claiming to receive copious calls
"We are doing some things to bring in more people," Mitchell said. "Like I said, everything will not run like a fine-tuned machine, but we are trying to tune that machine to make sure that our response time, that you don't have to be put on hold or the phone is not answered."
He continued, "So, we're doing our part. But, at the end of the day, the day-to-day operation does fall on the mayor, so we do give our input. If anybody calls and says, 'Hey. Mr. Mitchell, I called 911, and the response time… they didn't get here,' I will address it. And most all city councilmen do address that issue. We have had our conversations with the mayor. He has done everything possible to make sure that we are up to par when it comes to our 911 centers. So we're doing everything, but, like I said, everything can be improved, and that's what we're working on for 2025."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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