Andrea Macko reports for Porcupine Soup that Greene County has a skeleton crew of 911 operators, as unemployment continues to drop locally and nationally. On Aug. 3, at the Greene County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee, Emergency Services Director John P. Farrell, Jr. said the county has four vacant positions for 911 operators, and is not able to have its normal three dispatchers on duty each shift. “So, they have been running two per shift for the last five weeks,” said Farrell. In July, the reduced staff of dispatchers answered 656 EMS calls, 230 fire calls, 1,412 police calls, and 885 miscellaneous calls. “It was a pretty busy month to say the least,” Farrell said. “They are doing a heck of a job.” Legislator Daryl E. Legg, a Democrat representing Hunter, Lexington, and Halcott, said, “We have to offer these people a better living and more incentives." Currently dispatchers in Greene County begin at $37,867 per year and earn $40,872 after training. Greene County Administrator Shaun Groden said the contract for dispatchers is up for renewal soon, so it would be a good time to discuss salaries. Read more about this story at Porcupine Soup.