911 Board Considers New Services Contract

Effingham County 911 Board members Tuesday discussed a contract with INDIGITAL. 

The company promises twice as much network as in the past, but also indicates 911 will eventually be able to take texts as well as phone calls from citizens and will, at some point, be able to receive videos from incident scenes. 

The 911 Board also agreed to add the radios of four additional city police officers to the Star Com user fee schedule, agreed to pursue a UPS replacement battery cartridge to keep the system up and running, and also agreed to have three 911 staff members attend a national conference in San Antonio in June. System Administrator Jodi Moomaw and Addressing Coordinator Tina Daniels will attend, along with IT person Jason Repking.

The Board also heard from Moomaw about a Post Traumatic Stress Seminar scheduled in Effingham for March 30. Nine telecommunicators are slated to attend and two 911 board members also plan to participate. A nationally-known speaker will be in town to present the seminar, which will be open to other emergency services agencies.

Moomaw also reported on state legisation that could impact 911. One measure would increase the fee for 911 from 87 cents/month to $1.05/month, another would mandate revenue would keep coming if the state continues past June 30 with no budget, and a third measure would take two cents of the money that comes to 911 and divert it for a South Side Trauma Center in Chicagoland.

Moomaw also reminded board members that a Next Generation workshop is still scheduled in Effingham for March 21 to see about 911's technology could be expanded to incorpoarate other forms of communication than phone calls.