By BRUCE A. FASOL

A new contract among members of West Franklin Central Dispatch is to be formulated by Zeigler Mayor Dennis Mitchell.  The Zeigler City Council empowered their mayor to begin negotiations with Christopher and Valier toward a new agreement.

At Tuesday night’s meeting the situation with neighboring Royalton was discussed. Zeigler routinely responded for back-up to Royalton and vice versa. Now, Royalton has decided dispatching services should be concentrated in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. That puts officers, providing mutual aid to each other in dangerous situations on separate radio frequencies. It was theorized that life-threatening information may not reach officers on a frequency they would not normally monitor.

Mitchell is to now meet with representatives of the communities left in the pact. The Western Franklin Central Dispatch has developed a lawsuit against the City of Sesser. The suit stems from payments to the IRS and state agencies over the financial scandal that rocked the entity in 2012. That lawsuit against Sesser has yet to be authorized for filing by the Board.

The Board could vote to authorize filing tonight, or could authorize a final billing statement for money alleged due to Central Dispatch by the City of Sesser.