Mantua will temporarily oversee dispatch services for Hiram

A month after Mantua signed an agreement handing control of its police department to Hiram, Hiram found itself in need of Mantua’s help.

An ordinance Hiram and Mantua Village councils both authorized Jan. 20 has Hiram paying Mantua $100 a day to handle the northern community’s 911 calls for law enforcement “on a transitional basis.” 

Hiram has a police department, but does not have a dispatch center. The village had contracted with the Portage County Sheriff’s Office to handle its police, fire and 911 calls since Jan. 1, 2021, paying the PCSO $19,280 a year.

The PCSO has now canceled the contract.

According to Hiram Mayor Anne Haynam, the PCSO’s decision is rooted in Mantua having on Dec. 16, 2025, ceded control of its police department to Hiram. That prompted an immediate response from the PCSO.

“On December 17, 2025, the County sheriff's office gave 30 days notice that they were cancelling our police dispatch contract,” Haynam wrote in a Jan. 22 email to The Portager. “The notice stated erroneously that by adding the management contract with Mantua Village police department that we were significantly increasing the population being served under the existing contract.”

Haynam called the PCSO’s stance false because, unlike Hiram, Mantua has its own dispatch center. That, she said, means Hiram is not increasing the population from the original contract.

The PCSO’s notice coming as the holiday season approached, Haynam said she asked for a 30-day extension to find another dispatch service. The PCSO denied the request, leaving Hiram with no choice but to find a “bridge service,” she said.

Hiram sought dispatch service bids from Mantua, Streetsboro and Ravenna, and ultimately chose Streetsboro, she said.

The change-over takes time. Haynam stated that she does not know when Streetsboro will be able to bring Hiram online and could not publicly cite the cost of the new dispatch contract.

“It’s basically the same as our former contract after year one, when we have to pay for transition equipment,” she said.

According to PCSO 911 Coordinator Daniel T. Young, all 911 calls from Hiram, Mantua and Garrettsville are first answered by the PCSO. Now, Hiram’s 911 calls for law enforcement are being routed to Mantua and will soon be routed to Streetsboro.

That also takes time.

“A transfer requires the dispatcher to transfer the call and relay information to a dispatch center, who must re-enter the call details into their system before dispatching an officer,” Young wrote in a Jan. 22 email to The Portager. “Each transfer adds additional steps to the call-handling process, increases overall call-processing time, and introduces the potential for delays in response, particularly during periods of high call volumes or multi-agency incidents.”

The “bridge agreement” between Mantua and Hiram stands retroactive to Jan. 17, 2026, and continues until either village terminates it. 

Mantua’s $170,000 annual contract handing control of its police department to Hiram followed the Oct. 22 firing of Mantua Village’s former Police Chief Joseph Urso after an all-night, 12-hour hearing. Urso filed an administrative appeal in Portage County Common Pleas Court, which initially set a Jan. 2 deadline for him to file his brief. As is typical with court filing deadlines, either party may ask the court for more time, which may or may not be granted.

Citing the amount of time it would take to review the 800+ page record and his “unusually large workload,” Urso’s attorney Eric Fink on Jan. 8 requested a 60-day extension.

Magistrate Chad Hawks approved 50 additional days on Jan. 9. Assuming no additional extensions, Mantua will then have 21 days to file the village’s response, and then Urso will have another 10 days to file his reply.

The court’s ruling could follow as soon as a week or as long as three months after all filings are complete, Hawks told The Portager in a previous interview.