City Council Monday night threatened to pull the city's nearly $360,000 annual contribution to the 911 Communications Center over ongoing complaints from city residents about poor service.

Council instructed City Manager Rich Olson to look into the logistics of how the city could operate and fund its own 911 center. Currently, the city and Pasquotank County jointly fund the 911 Communications Center's operations.

Tony Stimatz (ENLARGE)

Second Ward Councilman Tony Stimatz and other councilors said they continue to field numerous complaints from residents who either have been treated rudely by 911 dispatchers, are told that no officers are available to respond to their complaint, or don't receive return phone calls.

Stimatz said some residents feel afraid to dial 911 and report crimes because their names and addresses are still sometimes broadcast over police scanners. He said his request earlier this year that Central Communications staff protect callers' identities by calling officers by telephone has fallen on deaf ears.

Further, he said the city's contract for 911 services with the county is vague, and doesn't spell out what services the city should receive for the $352,980 it gives Pasquotank each year for the 911 center.

"If you give a guy $360,000 a year, you ought to know what you're getting for that," Stimatz said.

Communications Center Director Ed Conran could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Stimatz is the only city councilor upset with the emergency call center.

City councilors Jean Baker, Anita Hummer and Rickey King said they, too, have received numerous complaints from residents about 911 service.

"There is a problem with 911," said King, the city's representative on the Central Communications Advisory Board. "Everybody's afraid to call."

Hummer said elderly residents have told her they are afraid to give their names to dispatchers out of fear they will be broadcast and criminals will be listening. One resident said a dispatcher told her they didn't have any officers to investigate her complaint, Hummer said.

Baker said her complaints center around "unprofessional, poor service."

"People don't get a warm fuzzy feeling for calling somebody who's there to help them," she said. "We deserve service if we are paying for it. If we can't control it, we should at least demand it."

Stimatz said he complained to the county commissioners at their last meeting, and received little response.

Cecil Perry, chairman of the Pasquotank Board of Commissioners, said his board has asked County Manager Randy Keaton to look into Stimatz's complaints. He said it's OK for the city to investigate its own 911 center, but he warned that it will cost city taxpayers more.

"If they're interested in forming another 911 center, that will bring a greater tax on our citizens," Perry said. "I think it's totally ridiculous without first communicating with the county commissioners."

In the meantime, he said city officials need to be more careful about blaming county officials for not communicating about problems, he said.

"Tony and the city council need to stop accusing the county commissioners of not cooperating with this community," Perry said. "We are all stewards" of the taxpayers' money.

Stimatz suggested the issue be placed on the agenda for the next joint city-county meeting, tentatively set for this fall. It would be the first joint meeting this year.