After 200 Years, City Tries Privatizing 911

For over 200 years the place called Johns Creek was just a spot along the Chattahoochee River, started as trading posts among the Cherokee Indian nation. The crossroads grew over the years, but not as quickly as the surrounding towns or Roswell, Alphareetta and Duluth, and not at all like Alpharetta. Finally, Johns Creek incorporated in 2005 and set about establishing its government services–but with a twist. The city council has been hiring private companies to operate several key city agencies, including iXP Corp. (NJ) to operate its public safety comm center. The new Chattahoochee River 911 Authority is officially a public-private venture, and opened Aug. 31st to provide communications for Johns Creek and Sandy Springs. Their new $5.6 million, 16,000 square-foot facility will handle an estimated 325,000 telephone calls and 275,000 incidents during the first year with 56 full-time staffers. City officials call the venture the “largest of its kind in the U.S.” Ten years ago Northampton County (Penn.) privatized their 911 center by hiring SHL Systemhouse Inc. to staff and operate the center. But political infighting led to an SHL lock-out of city officials, a federal contract lawsuit and a total melt-down of the operation. The county eventually terminated the contract and gave SHL a partial contract pay-out. The county then created their own center, and now staff and operate it themselves.