Althoff Departing 911 Board

After having been a part of establishing 911 service in Effingham County, Nick Althoff has resigned as a member of the 911 Board.

The retired Effingham fire chief will be recognized at the December board meeting for his more than 20 years of service to 911. 

Althoff was part of the ad-hoc committee that worked to develop the parameters of 911 in Effingham County, then worked to promote the referendum that established a surcharge to fund the 911 system.

Althoff was a part of implementing the system and chaired the 911 Board for a number of years. He saw much infighting on the way to getting the system in place, and found himself off the Board for a brief period of years before changes in leadership saw his return.

The Effingham County Board Monday named current Effingham Fire Chief Bob Tutko to succeed Althoff on the 911 Board.

As for 911, the Board Tuesday discussed whether the Spillman CAD system should be made available to all county fire departments. There was also discussion of the I AM Responding system and its availability to all departments. 

The Spillman system is utilized extensively by the Effingham Police Department and the Effingham County Sheriff's Department, but most fire departments don't utilize the ssytem beyond generating reports on calls. There is concern on the 911 Board that too much access to Spillman could compromise the security of the system.

When members heard that the information needed for reports could be sent to the area departments by fax or e-mail, there was less enthusiasm for making Spillman available to the departments. Even Tutko said his fire department doesn't really use Spillman, as they have a different software system to generate the same information. He said he would raise the issue when representatives of the departments meet Wednesday evening in hopes of getting a consensus on the matter.

Also Tuesday, System Administrator Jodi Moomaw reported there is still contention at the State level over how 911 revenue can be utilized. Moomaw also said there is work at the State level to standardize what 911 telecommunicators need to know and the expectations for them on the job so those who phone 911 in an emergency will know what to expect from the telecommunicator.

The 911 Board also heard that work is underway to obtain grant funds that could improve GIS use in the 911 system.