HC Quorum Court approves upgrade to 911 dispatch system

Howard County will be upgrading its 911 dispatch system.  During a vote at Monday’s quorum court meeting, j.p.’s agreed to spend more than $155,300 dollars to purchase a new 911 dispatch console.  Howard County Office of Emergency Management Coordinator Cecil McGee presented the request and said the new unit will provide the county with a state of the art system.  As an example, Mcgee & Sheriff Bryan McJunkins said currently, when a 911 call is received from a cell phone, the system will ping off a nearby cell phone tower, to give an approximate caller location.  With the system that was approved Monday, it will  provide an exact location for a caller, allowing law enforcement or medical personnel to have a quicker response time.

The upgraded 911 system was part of a larger scale project presented by McGee.  He also proposed an upgrade to fire department and law enforcement agency radios throughout the county to a digital service, with the hopes for providing better a better range of service for communications.  More information will be needed to determine if the county can use some of its federal American Rescue Plan monies on the purchase. 

The other upgrade approved by the quorum court yesterday was allowing McGee’s office to relocate to the old hospital campus on Leslie Street.  The facility would house an emergency operations center.  A maximum of $25,000 dollars was approved on the project.  Should the Office of Emergency Management leave the annex building behind the courthouse, that office space would become available for the circuit clerk to use.