A room full of fire and police, and other emergency responders have taken issue with Iroquois County Board Chairman Rod Copas' call to 'dissolve the ETSB (Emergency Telephone System Board).'

Copas addressed an audience in Watseka Tuesday night, reading from a prepared letter about his plan to dissolve the ETSB and allow the 9-1-1 Board to manage the system.

But Cissna Park police chief Dick Corke said that's just putting the control of this into one person's hands, referring to the County Board Chairman. It's politics and it doesn't belong here.

9-1-1 Coordinator Nita Dubble has explained the two governing boards go hand in hand. The discussion about the emergency system is fueled by the loss of landlines and that means revenue, which she said has nothing to do with how the boards work together to handle personnel and equipment............. # 61

It was pointed out 'there's no cost savings to combining the two boards, which has professional emergency personnel making decisions.

There was also more discussion about a public safety tax to generate monies for the 9-1-1 system. No decisions were made.

94.1 WGFA