CROWN POINT | Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Crown Point, said E-911 communications were flowing with little disruption Friday after the departure of the county's director.
"The E-911 system did not go down whatsoever. We have had one (department) call for help. We've responded to that and AT&T was already in contact with them," Scheub said.
Scheub said he will meet next week with Hobart Fire Chief Brian Taylor, St. John Police Chief Fred Frego and Munster Police Chief Stephen Scheckel to discuss a future director. The chiefs lead an E-911 advisory commission charting consolidation of all police and fire emergency communications into a single network.
Jeffery Cicillian, who served for years as liaison among the county's 17 community-based police and fire departments, resigned dramatically Thursday during an advisory commission meeting, leaving the keys to his office on the table where Scheub was sitting.
Scheub and Commissioner Mike Repay, D-Hammond, had complained of a lack of leadership among consultants, like Cicillian, paid to advise elected county officials how to merge E-911 operations. Commissioners had only renewed Cicillian's contract to the end of March.
Scheub said the county's emergency management department has taken over some of Cicillian's duties in meeting the current community-based radio dispatch operations needs.
Scheub said the next E-911 director must look beyond the current community-based departments and direct countywide consolidation to meet the state-imposed deadline of Dec. 31, 2014, or risk losing $2.6 million a year in state E-911 funding.
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