PUCO approves enhanced 911 system

The enhanced 911 system may be completed by December.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County's enhanced 911 emergency telephone system has been approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
Commissioner Gary Williams, who is heading the project, said Wednesday approval has been given to the "wireline" -- the line to your home or office -- and wireless portions of the plan.
The wireline portion should be completed by July and the wireless portion should be operational by December.
The plans approved by the PUCO called for the wireline portion to be completed by the end of this year and the wireless portion to be completed by the end of 2007.
PUCO spokesperson Shana Eiselstein said, "it's great if they can get it done sooner."
"We're in pretty good shape," Williams said.
Location shows up
"Enhanced" 911 means dispatchers will see the caller's address or location. The plan calls for the Columbiana, East Liverpool, East Palestine and Salem police departments and the county sheriff's office to receive emergency calls from designated areas. Each site would dispatch police, fire and ambulance services.
Williams said work is under way to get the master street address into the computer system so emergency calls will go to the designated law enforcement agency.
The county must still map coordinates throughout the county. That's needed to show the location of a call from a cell phone.
The approval of the wireless plan will give the county an estimated $174,000 in fees from cell phone uses in the first year. That money must be used initially for equipment.
Williams said the technical advisory committee for enhanced 911 will decide how the funds will be used.
Payment breakdown
The county plan calls for the fees on phones to pay for all equipment while the five answering points will continue to pay for personnel costs.
Williams said the wireless fees should later be available for personnel training.
Salem officials saw red ink for overtime earlier this year when it appeared that dispatchers might have to undergo emergency medical training.
"That's not law, that's just conjecture," Williams said.
If state law is changed to require the dispatchers to have medical training, one solution would be to train one dispatcher on each shift at the sheriff's office. Calls can be transferred between answering points.
There would be other ways to deal with the cost of any state-ordered training, Williams added.
wilkinson@vindy.com