COLUMBIANA CO. 911 final plan still on hold

Organizers will meet again to decide on asking voters to help fund the proposal.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Planners of an updated 911 system for Columbiana County have yet to agree on one of its key elements: Who should answer emergency calls?
A meeting was held Tuesday among area emergency, safety and disaster personnel to discuss 911.
Also talked about was whether voters should be asked in November to approve a 50-cent monthly surcharge on residential and business telephone lines to pay for operating 911.
Disagreement over the system's design resulted in the meeting's ending without a final 911 plan or a decision on whether to seek a ballot issue.
Another meeting is set for 10 a.m. July 8. By then, planners said they are hopeful that differences can be resolved and a decision can made whether to seek a ballot issue.
A final decision regarding putting the surcharge before voters is up to commissioners, who have until Aug. 21 to decide.
What's available
A basic version of 911 is available in the county. But it's incapable of instantly providing emergency dispatchers with database information regarding the address from which the call is originating. Being proposed is an updated system that would provide that information.
One idea is to create a central answering center based out of the sheriff's department that would receive 911 calls and the database information. Those details could then be relayed to the emergency personnel who needed it.
But Chief Mike McVay and Capt. Norman Curtis, both of the East Liverpool Police Department, objected to the plan. They said it would take about 20 seconds to route the 911 calls from a central answering point to the proper department. That time is crucial in an emergency, they said.
They recommended designing the system so that 911 calls and the database information would be routed automatically to the emergency personnel who would need it.
That idea is being considered.
To pay for 911, the county would have to rely on the telephone surcharge, which is expected to generate about $280,000 annually.
The county would use money from a $400,000 fund set up by the state to buy start-up equipment for 911. The fund is fueled by money arising from a settlement Ameritech made with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio over a service dispute.