Henry County Radio Project, School Safety Upgrades Proceeding

By Tim Alsobrooks
Paris, Tenn.-At Monday’s meeting of the Henry County 911 Board, 911 Director Mark Archer reviewed the County Wide Radio Project with members. He said the project is right on schedule and is moving on the Springville tower with the help of the Highway Department.
Archer said they are using R56 standards to ground some towers and buildings to help protect the equipment against lightning strikes. He said it has to be finished by December “and we are hoping to be done well before that.” He reiterated that the sheriff’s office and EMS will be the first to go live on the new County Radios.
Archer discussed the 2018-19 audit quickly with board members Monday. He said materials have been given to the auditor and last year they got it out pretty quickly. “We should have a good audit”, Archer said.
Archer updated the board on schools’ project and things are working well with cell phones and radios working well inside the schools. The PSSD has two major projects they’re finishing up and once that is complete, they’re going to upgrade phone systems and tie up some loose ends.
Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew asked about receiving instant text alerts in scenarios such as an active shooter alert. Archer and IT Director Chad Howard said there are some ways to add people to user groups so if there was an active shooter to let certain people from law enforcement, school personnel, etc. know what is was happening.
Board member Twila Rose and 911 Supervisor Angie Case reminded the board that right now, the more people on the group text, the longer it would take to get to everyone via text. Archer said the County’s school system is a little more outdated. The cell phones do seem to work well inside the buildings.
The County camera feeds hit a bit of a log jam, and they are currently working with BPU to get those up as soon as possible, he said.
Archer said it would take an upgrade on the County school’s phone system. 911 Board chairman John Etheridge said, “Sounds like we need to work on this for a while and see where we can be better in serving the school systems and letting our dispatch and responders know about scenarios as soon as possible.