Dover vs Stewart Co. brouhaha erupting over emergency Dispatching charges $$$$$$$$

To put it mildly, a major brouhaha’s erupted between the Town of Dover and Stewart County, Tennessee for charges the county is assessing the city for emergency dispatching services.

For years Dover paid Stewart County $15,900 per year for dispatching.

Dover residents pay city taxes and county taxes; but the city has its own police department with full time patrols, so the county dispatches to the city more than in other areas of the county, officials say. That is why Dover has been charged the extra $15,900 per year for dispatching.

Until now.

Recently Dover decided to go back to having its own Fire Department and split from Stewart County Fire Rescue.

With the move, Stewart County Mayor Robin Brandon said Dover needs to pay more or build their own E-911 center for dispatching, which would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions.

The price the county says Dover owes is now $58,000 per year or $4,800 per month — and the total amount was due and payable on Jan. 1, 2022.

So Dover is past due on its payment for dispatching services to the county, the Stewart County Mayor sayd.

No Dice! Dover officials say.

County officials have hinted Dover needs to pay up or dispatching to the municipality could cease.

“We won’t cut them off. Only they can cut themselves off,” Brandon said.

The county mayor says he initially told Dover their yearly dispatching cost would go up from$15,900 per year to $43,00 per year.

But Dover balked.

The County Mayor said Dover did not like that $43,000 amount, so city and county officials appealed to the State to come up with an equitable amount and based on the state’s assessment, Dover needs to pay the county $58,000 for dispatching, rather than $43,000.

The dispute escalated to the ‘almost’ name-calling level during last week’s Dover City Council meeting.

“It’s retaliation from the Mayor!” exclaimed Dover City Council member Robert “Boo” Beechum during the rectn city meeting. “It’s retaliation from the Mayor because Dover restarted its Fire Department!”

Another member of the Board of Mayor and Alderman for the Town of Dover went so far as to say it was “Silly” for the county mayor to expect Dover to pay what amounts to extortion level prices for dispatching services.

“We need to stick that bill in and envelope and mail it right back to him!” a member of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for the Town of Dover said.

Dover City Council members questioned whether the Stewart County Mayor has the authority to unilaterally impose an increase of dispatching fees so high to Dover, which is also the county seat of Stewart County.

“Dover citizens are county citizens too!” said Dover Mayor Lesa Fitzhugh.

Some say the Stewart County Commission is the one with the authority to increase the charge to the city and that the county mayor on his own do not have that authority.

Some observers also say it looks like the county commissioners are content to stay mum and let the mayor have full rein on the issue.

Some critics go so far as to say the Stewart County Commission, with the exception of one commissioner — are terrified of opposing or questioning Brandon on any of his decisions or actions. Supporters say the commissioners do not question Brandon because he is right..

“The Town of Dover did not consider the associated costs of operating their own Fire Department. The county cannot be expected to pay for their mistakes,” Mayor Brandon said in a prepared statement.

Dover officials spent a good deal of time talking over the issue before last week’s city meeting ceased.

This is not the first time in history Dover and Stewart County have been at odds over dispatching. When Don Trawick was the Stewart County Executive (a job that is now called county mayor) he decided Dover needed to pay more for dispatching since Dover was getting more calls than other area. That is when the city decided to start its own Police Department in the early 1980s.

There were other parts to this issue on the Dover police department, but before that one was all worked out decades ago, it too had deteriorated into personal animosity, name calling and threats of cutting off dispatching services to the Town of Dover.

This Story Will Update ……

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