Gov. Mitch Daniels offered a positive endorsement of the Cass County emergency dispatch center during a visit to Logansport on Tuesday morning.

“It’s a great story,” the governor said before an assembled crowd of around 50 local government officials, combined dispatch administrators and equipment providers.

“You are spreading the gospel in Cass County and Logansport of our need to develop in this area. It is really a great display of leadership.”

Daniels was in Logansport to tout his vision for greater efficiency in local government by highlighting the city and county’s efforts to combine emergency dispatch operations to save money and improve safety.

During a tour of the facility, which opened last month, Daniels spoke with dispatcher Cassi Lane for several minutes on the transition to combined operations and the new dispatch system.

Lane said that she felt the governor left with a strong impression of the work that is going on.

“He liked it and thought it was very well put together,” Lane said.

During a 15-minute address, Daniels said the center provides obvious benefits to the citizens of Cass County.

“It is very, very impressive,” Daniels said. “It is clear that the public are better protected than before and have better protection than most other places. Of all government services that can be re-examined ... 911 is the clearest and easiest for people to see.”

Daniels emphasized improved response times for emergency services using a combined dispatch system.

He cited a tragic incident last year in Hamilton County where the occupants of car that was trapped underwater drowned. Despite calling 911, emergency services were not dispatched to the scene of the accident in time because of transfer times between various dispatch centers in the area.

“That would never happen here,” Daniels said.

The governor added the leadership exhibited by Logansport and Cass County government can be held up as an example for other communities also combining their emergency dispatch services.

“They are working on it to try and get where you guys are,” Daniels said.

Logansport Mayor Mike Fincher, who was in attendance, said he felt the governor’s visit emphasized the positive steps taken by the city and county.

“I think we left a good impression on the governor in how we set up the system and the idea that Logansport and Cass County now acts as a regional dispatch center,” Fincher said. “It may encourage other communities to look our way.”

As the discussion shifted to a question-and-answer session, Cass County council president Ralph Anderson asked the Governor about the proposed change to the structure of county government as part of his streamlining efforts.

While a proponent of home rule, Daniels said modernization is now required in state’s 150-year-old system of local governance.

Specifically, he supports a bill under consideration in the state senate that will eliminate the county commissioner system.

“The thought of the bill is that the county commissioners system is different to what you might find elsewhere,” Daniels said. “There aren’t three presidents of the United States, there aren’t three mayors of Logansport ... it is an odd way to have an executive situation.”

Anderson said after Daniel’s address that he does not feel Cass County will benefit from eliminating the commissioner system.

“I understand his position, but I wanted him to expand on that,” Anderson said. “For Cass County, it would increase expenditures. I have no experience on this but I don’t know if it would have that much effect. For three commissioners that are part-time we pay $48,000. For a single chief executive the county would have to pay a lot more, and it would also increase the work of the county council.”

Daniels eased Anderson’s concerns, though, by informing those in attendance that as the bill has moved through the legislative process it has changed to include a public referendum, with the “status quo as an option.”

Anderson said it would be three years before any vote on the change was likely.

For E-911 director Lori Forrer, the governor’s visit was an opportunity for the center to celebrate the successful relationships with the various companies that worked on the combined dispatch during the past few months.

“IPSIC, INdigital for phone and 911, WTH for mapping — all the people that have been working long and hard on the project from the very beginning,” Forrer said. “I was glad to be able to show what we’re doing. We have got a lot of good things going on here.”

She added that once a grant is secured and work begins on a new emergency operations center adjacent to the combined dispatch, Logansport was likely to see the governor again.

“He will be back,” she said.

Kevin Smith can be contacted at (574) 732-5148 or via e-mail at kevin.smith@pharostribune.com