Dispatch Fees Not So Imminent

Rabun County is not so certain of pending dispatch fees anymore.

Two weeks ago, Rabun County Commission Chairman Butch Darnell said that the county attorney had been authorized to send letters to three cities in Rabun County notifying them there would be charges for dispatch service.

Darnell noted that the cities to be notified were Clayton, Mountain City, and Sky Valley because they collect taxes.

County Administrator Jim Bleckley says that was an errant statement, however.

“It’s not because of the taxes, it’s who uses the service,” said Bleckley. “The people that use the service are Clayton, Dillard, Mountain City, Sky Valley, and Tallulah Falls. If the program is put into effect, the board of commissioners will make that decision, but that has not been finalized at this point.”

Bleckley notes that there is a difference between dispatch service and 911 service.

“It is not 911 emergency calls,” said Bleckley. “They are calls and traffic stop calls that are made by the police departments of the various cities requesting the assistance of our dispatch crews working 911.”

Of the over fifty five hundred calls to dispatch made in 2012, the city of Clayton made almost four thousand.