Roscommon, Crawford County Central Dispatch Partnership Hits Roadblock

Two counties in northern Michigan have hit a roadblock in their partnership to merge central dispatch departments.

Roscommon County and Crawford County have had this partnership for more than five years, and were planning to officially merge departments in January 2022.

“The simple fact that we could combine our operations would save money and be able to provide the same or better level of service to both counties with less money,” said Vance Stringham, Roscommon County Central Dispatch Director.

That partnership includes sharing services, including central dispatch software.

“The server for the software is set in “Roscommon County,” said Crawford County Sheriff Shawn Kraycs. “We would have a portion of that server which would hold all of our information and directly link to the software company.”

Both counties have hit a barrier with the company that owns that server.

“There was a technical project, and the vendor was unable to provide a working solution by the deadline that the vendor had set,” said Stringham. “Roscommon decided to put a hold, and that’s where it began.”

Sheriff Kraycs feels there should have been more communication between the counties and the technology vendor about this project.

“We’re in a relationship with a technology company that if we walk away from that relationship, we already have money invested,” he said. “Until we can work out a couple of things with the technology-wise, we’re going to continue in a holding pattern.”

Now, they’re working with the company and each other to put their partnership back in place.

“The vendor has to be given the opportunity to make it right,” said Stringham. “I’m waiting to see what they have to offer to bring this forward. If it is such then we’ll be happy to continue with the project, but we have to see what the vendor’s willing to do to make this right.”

Sheriff Kraycs said he and Stringham want to make this partnership work.

“We also don’t want to point fingers at each other, and we don’t want to muddy the water at all to make anyone think that there’s a relationship that has just gone awry here,” he said . “We certainly get along, but at this point neither one of us really, I think, understand how this is going to play out with the software company.”