Santa Clara Mayor Filed*

Dispatch consolidation would result in more cost-effective and efficient emergency response and should be implemented throughout Santa Clara County. City Response to Finding 1: The City agrees, in part, with the finding. The City agrees that consolidation of the dispatch centers at smaller agencies could result in cost savings for those entities. The City does not believe, however, that transferring its dispatch function to an alternate location would result in more efficient emergency response. Consolidation that results in eliminating and/or combining administrative and managerial positions or reducing the quantity of line personnel can be more cost effective. The City does not dispute this point, but each individual agency would need to conduct its own cost/benefit analysis to determine if consolidation is truly cost effective as it pertains to their situation. The capital outlay for the technology required to consolidate would be significant. The City disagrees with the assertion that our emergency response would be more efficient under a consolidated dispatching system. The study suggests that there is a twenty second to three minute delay for medical calls due to the need to transfer the call Mayor and Council Offices 1500 Warburton Avenue Santa Clara, CA 95050 (408) 615-2250 FAX (408) 241-6771 www.santaclaraca.gov Judge Richard J. Loftus, Jr. August 31, 2011 to County Communications. This is not the case in the City of Santa Clara. On the vast majority of calls, life saving medical equipment and personnel from the Santa Clara Fire Department is dispatched from our Communications Center in less than a minute from the time a citizen dials 9-1-1. Our medical calls are not transferred to County Communications. (We do contact County Communications at the touch of a button, via a dedicated line, only to request an ambulance). This results in very efficient dispatching and arrival of life saving medical assets. Additionally, our dispatch personnel are highly trained in Emergency Medical Dispatching (EMD) and provide medical instructions to the caller until help arrives.

Radio equipment has not been standardized and impedes effective countywide communication and emergency dispatch. Judge Richard J. Loftus, Jr. August 31, 2011 City Response to Finding 2: The City agrees with the finding.