By Shannon McFarlin WENK/WTPR News Director
Paris, Tenn.—Much progress has been made on the proposed Central Dispatch system for Henry County and 911 Board Chairman John Etheridge said at Monday’s meeting, “I do believe it’s going to happen at this point. It’s looking positive.”
Central Dispatch Committee Chair Chuck Elizondo—who is the Paris Police Chief—said meetings have continued with all city and county department heads, as information on budgeting, pay scales for each position and proper legal documents progresses. He noted that the city of Paris is in the budget process, working toward a July 1 deadline for the new budget year.
“We’ve made quite a bit of progress,” Etheridge said, “and we want to keep that July 1 date in mind, if we can make it happen by then.”
911 Director Mark Archer said space in the back of the County 911 Building on Brewer Street could be utilized for the new Central Dispatch and he said he will begin working on calculations on what renovations, moving equipment from the city and county dispatch offices, and purchase of some new equipment will cost. A rough estimate at this point, he said, would be some $150,000. He said there are sufficient funds in the 911 budget to cover that.
In other business:
–IT Manager Chad Howard reported on progress made on both the QGIS (geographic information system) and improvements to the 911 website. Howard said the new GIS system to be utilized by 911 “is really revolutionary. We’ll be able to locate everything with this system. We’ll even be able to zoom in on all the bridges in the county.”
Archer noted how important that is for first responders by recalling a situation awhile back when a man ran off the road, was injured, and could only tell the dispatchers that he was somewhere between Paris and Puryear. “Finally, one of our dispatchers said to check the bridge between Puryear and Hazel and that’s exactly where he was. He would have bled to death if he hadn’t gotten help. So any help with finding our landmarks is extremely important,” Archer said.
Howard said the website will be finalized in the next couple weeks.
–Board members directed Archer to get an appraisal of the 7.6 acres which 911 owns on the Hwy. 218 bypass. Archer said the land is not needed and said they would like to look for someone to purchase the land and invest the money or put the money toward the Central Dispatch project.
The land was purchased in 2010 and has not been used by 911.
911 Attorney Chip McLean said the land has to be sold at fair market value. He said the law requires it be sold at public auction or sealed bid and McLean recommend the first step is to receive the fair market appraisal from a licensed appraiser. He also recommended that it be sold by sealed bids to save money.
Photo: IT Manager Chad Howard explains progress made on the 911 website and geographic information system. (Shannon McFarlin photo).
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