911 Committee Ready to Work on Specs for Next Gen Phone System

The Effingham County 911 Board Tuesday heard their equipment committee will meet this month to start developing specs for a Next Generation phone system.

The committee will meet next Monday to begin the process. 

Right now, the 911 system in Effingham County can receive phone calls. Under a Next Generation system, other forms of communications could be used to alert telecommunicators of emergencies. The committee will be working on what to include in a request for proposals from vendors.

The Board also heard from System Administrator Jodi Moomaw that members need to contact the Governor's Office, encouraging the governor to sign Senate Bill 1839 into law, the measure that allocates funding for 911 systems statewide. An increase in the surcharge in Cook County has reportedly caused the governor some concern and that could hold up the funding process throughout the state.

The 911 Board also gave approval to selling two generators. One served as a backup at the transmitter tower near the former drive-in site on East Route 40, the other backed up the City PSAP at City Hall. The site along Route 40 was used for the old 800 megahertz radio system that's no longer used, and the City PSAP will now be backed up as part of the new city police station system.

The Board also agreed to let Abbott Ambulance interface with the Spillman CAD software used by 911. Abbott will need the integration as they take over emergency ambulance service in the county.