CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — Charlotte County and the city of Punta Gorda are moving forward with exploring whether to consolidate their emergency dispatch centers.
A task force was formed Tuesday to help make the decision on whether to merge the county and city dispatch centers that handle 911 calls.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on a new task force to explore consolidating Charlotte County and Punta Gorda's emergency dispatches:
The task force includes city and county staff, public safety officials, and school board representatives.
"This working group is by no means a commitment to consolidate - this is a fact finding mission and they're going to come back and we'll have that joint meeting with the city - so I just wanted to make sure that that was clear to everybody," said Joe Tiseo, chairman of the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners.
Punta Gorda's City Council previously voted against consolidating the dispatch centers, with one reason being the city's dispatch times are faster than the county's.
However, Punta Gorda Police Chief Pam Smith says it's worth exploring, with conditions.
"We are actually interested in learning - does it work in other areas? And can it be done collaboratively? And will it benefit the city? Because one thing we don't want to do is have the way we respond to calls - our times and everything be affected negatively," Smith said.
The police chief emphasized that the final decision will be made collaboratively based on the task force's findings.
"It could potentially lead to a consolidation - or it could finally say nope we're putting this to rest nobody is consolidating," Smith said.
The task force has not yet scheduled its first meeting, but aims to do so soon.
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