Commissioners hear proposal to review 911 system
COSHOCTON – Coshocton County Commissioners met Wednesday, July 13 to discuss the possibility of having an outside company test and assess the county’s 911 operating system. A company out of Pennsylvania has offered to assess the current equipment and test issues that the county is having. The proposal of that assessment is $17,500. The assessment would begin Oct. 15 and last three months.
Jon Mosier was present and said there are some problems with the current system and believes it should be addressed to see why it’s not working like it should. There have been some complaints by fire and EMS personnel that they can’t hear calls coming through.
“I don’t want to see issues where they can’t do their job or save lives because of something wrong with the system,” said Mosier.
Mike LaVigne, information technology director, said he is worried about the cost of the assessment.
“If we do the study and we know what the problem is, are we going to have the money to fix it?” said LaVigne.
Todd Shroyer, EMS director, said with the hills and valleys in the county and the narrow banding, he feels the answer will be that the current system is no longer going to work.
“We have to do something because right now, we can’t hear our pages,” said Shroyer. “If you’re not on the right tower, sometimes we don’t even know there’s a call and that’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Rusty Dreher, dog warden, said that Delaware County will sometimes come through on Coshocton’s frequencies and will actually overpower local personnel on those frequencies.
“We have a lot of band aids in place to get us through before reports come back, but we can’t keep relying on those band aids,” said LaVigne. “We have to do something.”
Dreher said that he can have the company speak with the commissioners on a conference call prior to deciding on whether or not to do the assessment.
Category: Government
