JEFFERSON — The Ashtabula County Board of Commissioners was acting under the direction of legal counsel when it abruptly abolished the Information Technology Services Department and shifted Janet Boland’s position to the Emergency Management Agency on Monday.

Thursday morning, commissioners presented their rationale for the move to the 911 Review Board, whose chairman, Vince Gildone, told them he was unhappy with the action because it reduces the number of hours Boland can dedicate to her 911 coordinator duties.

Until Monday morning, Boland worked for the county’s Information Technology Services Department, which had four other employees. After commissioners abolished the department as a cost-cutting measure, Boland was offered, and accepted, the job of 911 coordinator/ Emergency Management Agency (EMA) planner-trainer. Boland said the move dropped her pay down two notches on the scale but she was happy to have the opportunity to continue in the position.

However, during her report to the review board, Boland pointed out that her previous title, 911 coordinator/ software, was misleading. Boland said: “110 percent of my time was 911. Don’t be misled: On paper it was correct; in reality it’s not.”

“I came in early and gave my time at home,” she told the review board.

Gildone challenged the commissioners on their decision to reduce the amount of time Boland can give to 911. He said the 911 Fund, which is outside the general fund and receives its money from real-estate and cell-phone assessments, has a balance of $500,000. About $300,000 of it will be needed to pay for the unified geographic information system mapping project, but Gildone said there’s still plenty of money to pay for a full-time coordinator.

However, the review board’s role is advisory only, and by law, commissioners decide how the money will be spent. Several members said it looks as though the commissioners aren’t listening to the board’s recommendations.

Commissioners say they will be shifting some of Boland’s 911 mapping duties to the auditor’s office, which is spearheading the effort to create a unified mapping system for the county. Commissioner Daniel Claypool said they anticipate hiring additional staff in the auditor’s office to administer that project, and that should free Boland to devote more time to the new responsibilities.

However, Boland and Gildone said the 911 coordinator position needs to be full time because there has been an explosion of new technology in the 911 field. For example, people are starting to use text messages to reach a dispatching site and the county’s system must be prepared to deal with that and other unconventional sources. Boland’s job as coordinator also requires her to train dispatchers in the use of new technology.

Gildone grilled commissioners on the purported cost savings associated with watering-down Boland’s coordinator role. He pointed out that 911 funds were used to pay for 1.5 positions in the former IT Services Department: all of Boland’s and half of Paul Mascatelli’s, who was supposed to assist her with 911 work. However, Boland said that, in practice, Mascatelli did not do 911 work. Gildone called the whole system of IT funding “smoke and mirrors.”

“We’re going to fund the auditor’s office but can’t afford a full-time coordinator’s position,” Gildone told commissioners. “

Claypool said they had to move Boland around and handle the abolishment the way they did to navigate the many labor contract and legal issues associated with their actions. Commissioners President Peggy Carlo said commissioners could not bring the personnel issues to the board before taking the action, but she called Gildone and several other members Monday morning to advise them of what was taking place.

“The county commissioners had to protect the county,” Claypool said. “We called in a very experienced lawyer. He told us this was the way this has to be done. We followed his advice. It’s all semantics. We had to do what we had to do in a very specific way.”

That answer didn’t satisfy several of the review board members, however, and Geneva Police Chief Dan Dudik made a motion that the commissioners look into creating a full-time 911 coordinator position within the guidelines of the law. The motion was passed unanimously by the review board members, and Claypool said the commissioners “would take it under advisement.”