ATHENS, Tenn. — All 911 calls in McMinn County go to a central center, but then fire and police calls for the towns of Athens and Etowah are routed again to their individual dispatch systems.

Marvin Kelley, director of McMinn County 911 and East Tennessee regional director for the state’s E-911 board, said rerouting means delays in emergency response. He’s hoping to persuade Athens and Etowah to join the county 911 center.

“Every call to 911 comes into our center, and dispatchers ask what is the emergency, where is the emergency, and what service is needed,” Mr. Kelley said. “If the call is for Athens or Etowah, we transfer the call, and they have to ask the same information.”

He said he hopes to meet soon with Athens officials to talk about unification.

Athens Police Chief Chuck Ziegler said he doesn’t believe the county center can take over some of the duties their center requires, including computer recording of reports.

“We have a computer-aided dispatch system and our records-management system (records information) when the dispatchers put it into the system,” Chief Ziegler said. “Much of the recordkeeping for officers is already completed. For us, not having that system in place would set our department back 15 years.”

Etowah Mayor Andy Hyatt said his city is very satisfied with the present arrangement. He said the lone dispatcher on duty does have other duties, but emergency calls are top priorities.

Hamilton County consolidated its 911 system in January 2008.

While there have been some glitches that revealed the need for more training, 911 Director John Stuermer said the system is working overall.

Computers at the Hamilton 911 center automatically transfer information to appropriate dispatchers as the call takers type it in. That means the response starts right away.

Mr. Stuermer said it’s a bad idea for call takers and dispatches to do other work during a shift. He cited an incident where a dispatcher couldn’t send more firetrucks to a scene because of a separate heart-attack emergency call.

“Double duty can be very dangerous,” he said.

Lynn Questell, executive director of the Tennessee Emergency Communication Board, said it’s up to counties to decide how many call centers to have.

But the state board provides funding to 911 districts, and Ms. Questell said it’s more financially equitable to have one center.

“Shelby County has 13 call centers. There are politics involved in the current (systems) and equipment,” she said.

Athens and Etowah don’t get money from the state 911 organization. They pay for equipment and dispatchers themselves.

Ms. Questell said the state is getting ready to replace its 30-year-old modernize 911 system. The new system will be able to benefit from wireless technology such as cell phone photos from crimes and emergencies, she said.