Whatcom seeks better, cheaper answer for the 138,574 calls to 911 each year The Bellingham Herald 12/15/2020 Robert Mittendorf, The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Wash.) Dec. 15—Combining Whatcom County's two 911 dispatch centers, whose operators separately send law-enforcement officers or firefighters to calls for service, is back on the County Council's agenda. It's both logical and a cost-saving measure to combine the two 911 centers, said Councilman Tyler Byrd. "I've been working on all the documentation I can find on this and talking to people. I can't find a single efficiency that comes out of this the way it is today," Byrd said during a Nov. 12 budget session.