911 Board Votes to Seek Quotes on Efficiency Study

The Effingham County 911 Board Tuesday voted to seek requests for a study of the 911 system in hopes of making it more efficient.

There were no dissenting votes although Chief Deputy Sheriff John Loy abstained from the vote and City Police Chief Mike Schutzbach was absent from the meeting.

911 Board public member Norbert Soltwedel has chaired a committee that developed the study request.  Soltwedel wants to make sure the system is operating efficiently.  He is hopeful that once a vendor is selected to do the study, the results could be back within three months.  A look at whether consolidating the city and county dispatching locations would save money is a part of the proposal.  The request for proposal should be posted online by week's end.

Efficiency becomes more attractive as fiscal concerns grow.  911 Supervisor Jodi Moomaw said the latest land line report indicates 1,625 fewer land lines in the county than last year.  That is projected to cause the amount of 911 revenue to drop by almost $54,000 with only a small portion of the amount to be recouped by any increase in cell phone usage.

There was no new information on whether a bridge designed to improve communication between law enforcement officers out of their squad cars and using portables will improve the quality of the calls.

Members heard Global Technical Services, the firm working on the bridge, is "really busy" so the installation of the bridge is delayed.  There's no word on when the bridge will be in place.

The 911 Board also heard that the 911 website is up and running.  The address is "911effinghamcounty.org."