WARREN — Trumbull County 911 Director Tacy McDonough has been asked to see how other communities have handled nonemergency calls now being routed into the center.

McDonough recently provided the commissioners a proposed contract with New York-based RapidSOS as an expansion of the free version the county already uses.

It would include paid modules for communicator tools and nonemergency automation, requiring eight licenses at an annual cost of $41,304, or $206,520 over five years.

Commissioners on Tuesday appeared hesitant to support the proposal to pay for the automated system.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said many county residents would rather be able to talk to a live person than a nonhuman AI device.

McDonough emphasized the need for the county to address the nearly 200,000 nonemergency calls her 911 dispatchers now handle, which is more than double the number of actual emergency calls. The 911 dispatch center handled approximately 90,000 emergency calls in 2024.

McDonough said part of the problem her understaffed department is experiencing is when residents call the after-hours, nonemergency numbers of area police and fire departments, they often are rerouted to Trumbull 911 dispatchers.

“We should not be receiving those calls,” she said. “911 is for emergency dispatches.”

It was suggested the county not continue allowing villages and townships to reroute their nonemergency calls to the dispatch center.

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Attorney Bill Danso said the county could continue to allow villages and townships to reroute their nonemergency calls through 911, but the county would have to add fees to those communities’ 911 costs.

“If they want to continue, the extra funds would be used to pay for that extra employee’s time,” Danso said. “Right now, they are all getting that for free.”

He suggested any formal changes being considered, including financing plans, should be included in the 911 plan being drafted by the 911 review board and the commissioners.

“You need to structure a new funding plan,” Danso said. “Those decisions need to be made before the 911 plan.”

Commissioner Tony Bernard said asking townships and villages to pay for their nonemergency calls would not solve the problem of dispatchers being overworked.

“We could hire one or more call takers who would not be dispatching,” Malloy said.

McDonough said the 911 center, ultimately, should not be handling the nonemergency calls at all.

“These are nonemergency calls that should be handled by the police entities in townships and villages from which they originate,” McDonough said.

Commissioner Rick Hernandez agreed the villages and townships need to be told they either should be willing to pay for the nonemergency calls or the calls would be answered by their own staff employees

“I don’t think we should be handling these calls,” McDonough said.

She also noted that dispatchers are being asked to run criminal history reports multiple times by police officers, judges and others.

“We should not be doing these either,” McDonough said. “We are being dinged on our state evaluations because we’re running these criminal history reports three or four times.”

McDonough told the commissioners she is willing to set up meetings with area police and fire chiefs to discuss any of these suggested changes.

“It will go over like a lead balloon,” she noted.

Bernard said it is important to let the police and fire chiefs know the county’s options are limited.

“I don’t want to just shove it down their throats,” he said. “We have to do this together. We have to do something. Nonemergency calls have been going up and up and up.”

Bernard also suggested they reach out to the state’s county commissioners association to see what is being done in other areas of Ohio to address these concerns.

McDonough said the number of nonemergency calls the dispatch center has been receiving is affecting how quickly the department can answer incoming emergency calls.