Lake County has taken a giant step forward towards the consolidation of 9-1-1 and emergency dispatch services with the establishment of two new agencies after the County Board approved two intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) at its June 11 meeting.
The first IGA will establish LakeComm, of which Lake County will be one of the founding members, to serve as the consolidated Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for the partnering agencies, municipalities and unincorporated areas of Lake County. A PSAP is a 9-1-1 call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number for law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services. It plays a critical role in ensuring that emergency calls are quickly and efficiently answered, and information routed to the appropriate response units, thereby enhancing public safety and reducing response times.
“It is through this unprecedented collaboration between the county and our municipal partners that we are able to take another important step forward in the process that will reduce response times and ultimately save lives,” said Sandy Hart, Lake County Board Chair. “We will be able to provide the residents of Lake County and visitors with a faster, more coordinated emergency response system that they not only expect but deserve.”
The second IGA initiates the process to establish a Joint Emergency Telephone System Board (JETSB), of which Lake County will also be a founding member, with a number of local ETSBs. An ETSB receives 9-1-1 surcharge funds and is the oversight board responsible for managing the operational aspects of the overall 9-1-1 system. The new Joint ETSB would then require final approval from the State of Illinois 9-1-1 Administrator.
The LakeComm IGA also establishes the requirement for a long-term lease for dedicated space for LakeComm in the new Regional Operations and Communications (ROC) Facility being constructed on Lake County’s Libertyville campus.
It’s anticipated the new LakeComm services will be operational by late summer or early fall of 2025 after the new ROC Facility is completed. Founding members for LakeComm at this time includes Lake County, the Village of Antioch, First Fire Protection District (FPD) of Antioch, Beach Park FPD, Countryside FPD, the Village of Fox Lake, Fox Lake FPD, Village of Gurnee, Greater Round Lake FPD, the Village of Island Lake, Lake Villa FPD, Village of Lake Zurich, Village of Mundelein, City of North Chicago, Village of Round Lake, Village of Round Lake Beach, Village of Round Lake Heights, Village of Round Lake Park, Village of Vernon Hills, Wauconda FPD and the City of Zion.
All governmental entitles in the county are eligible and welcome to join. Those that join after July 1 will need to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the LakeComm member board. However, the IGA states the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will be granted membership to LakeComm upon written request.
“As a board member who has seen this initiative slowly progress over the past seven years, I am excited we have moved to this next step of the process. Having personally experienced a call transfer delay during an emergent situation, I know we will be better equipped to provide faster, more coordinated emergency responses, which is critical to the safety of our residents, visitors and businesses,” said Linda Pedersen, Lake County Board Member for District 1.
For over a decade, regional 9-1-1 consolidation has been a top priority for Lake County and its municipal and agency partners. This initiative was spearheaded by Illinois Law (50 ILCS 750/15.4a), which mandates that any county with a population of at least 250,000 and more than one ETSB should consolidate ETSBs so that no 9-1-1 authority in the county serves a population of less than 25,000 residents. Since then, the State continues to support additional consolidations.
The IGAs follow the groundbreaking for the Regional Operations and Communications Facility and the implementation earlier this year of a state-of-the-art computer software system by Lake County, the Lake County ETSB and local law enforcement and fire agencies. The new software has streamlined operations by consolidating more than 15 systems into a single, integrated package. This includes Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), records management and law enforcement reporting.
“Much work has been done by the County and its many partners to get to this point. Moving forward, we are committed to this effort to improve 9-1-1 services and increase public safety for all our residents, visitors and communities,” said J. Kevin Hunter, Lake County Board Member for District 5. “We look forward to the next phases of this very complex 9-1-1 consolidation in Lake County.”
