WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are investigating whether to use a portion of up to $5.5 million it has available to pay for the move of the Trumbull County 911 Center and the county’s coroner’s office.

Commissioner Denny Malloy suggested the county use some of the approximately $980,000 in its contingency fund and another $4.5 million in an MCO account that was established several years ago when the county received a refund because of previous overpayments to a managed care program.

Discussions about the funding of these offices came because of a request by 911 Director Tacy McDonough for the commissioners to seek proposals for bids to move the 911 center from its present location in Howland to a new facility.

Commissioners have been looking at moving the 911 center to the second floor of the Trumbull County Combined Health District in Cortland. The county previously received a proposal outlining what they would be required to do to move into the building.

The initial proposal stated the county 911 center would be able to move into the building for free, subject to the county paying its own costs.

“That transition into some sort of monthly rent payment and the research we had shows that there is no clear authority that says a board of health is an entity that we could contract with outside of a competitive bid,” Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Danso told the commissioners at their weekly workshop meeting Tuesday.

It is because of this issue that McDonough is seeking permission to seek bids. Bid proposals must be submitted to McDonough by 3 p.m. Oct. 10. Proposals must meet minimum requirements needed by the 911 center.

“This stems from whether boards of health can give space to commissioners,” McDonough said. “The RFP would be the easiest way to move forward. This will allow the health department, if they want to submit a bid, they can do that.”

McDonough said the consultant the county hired to do work for the health department building will be able to review the proposals submitted by any new bidders for the 911 contract to determine if their sites qualify for what the new center requires.

Commissioner Denny Malloy reminded the board that the previous board of commissioners over a two-year period reviewed several other proposed 911 sites and rejected two of them for being inadequate and found the board of health building a better location than another site.

“If there are other buildings out there that are better, they have not been presented to us,” Malloy said.

Commissioner Tony Bernard questioned why the commissioners should now be seeking other bids for the proposed move when they have not determined how they would pay for it.

“Where are the funds coming from?” Bernard said. “I am not willing to put the taxpayers in debt right now. Until I find a funding source, I’m not willing to put us in debt. I’m all about the money.”

Bernard has been an advocate of providing information to the electorate of the county’s financial needs not only for the 911 center move and renovation, but also to pay for a new dog pound in Vienna and a new coroner’s office.

“We should put this before the voters to decide whether they want to pay extra money for these projects,” he said.

Bernard noted he is worried about proposals being talked about across the state that would either reduce or eliminate the amount of property taxed counties will be able to collect in the future. The proposals, if passed, could significantly reduce the amount of money the county will be able to access.

“We should be fiscally responsible,” he said. “My vote is to take it to the voters.”

Malloy suggested the county has an obligation to the health district to provide an answer to whether the county would like to use its space.

“They are not going to hold this space forever,” Malloy said. “We have an opportunity to go in there at a ridiculously low yearly rate to be in that facility at no upfront cost.”

McDonough provided an estimated cost of between $1 million and $1.5 million to complete the 911 move.

“We’ve updated equipment,” she said. “Realistically, we just need a building and furniture, including desks and doing the cabling of the building.”

“We are 30 years behind the eight ball,” McDonough said. “We need technology and a building.”

Malloy said the county electorate voted them into office to make decisions about the operation of the county.

“I’m not going to have voters micromanage every agenda item,” Malloy said. “Especially, for $1 million. That’s our job. Lake County is putting $200 million into their safety center and their 911. They are the same size as us. This is what we do. We take tax money and allocate it for services for citizens.”

“We have the money,” he continued. “Why wouldn’t we do that? We are not going to find a better deal.”

Commissioner Rick Hernandez said they need to move forward with the bid process.