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This my friends is our (Magee) 9-11 System! Can you believe this! The phone does not even have a hold button…no transfer button..and only one line! Before anyone starts to lay blame, don’t do it! Let’s just figure out how to correct this problem!
At the Tuesday night, February 19, 2019, Board of Aldermen Meeting, Mayor Dale Berry brought up the problem of our local E-911 system. Fire Marshal and County Fire coordinator Charlie Valadie explained to the board and visitors the situation with the present E-911 system.
I was unable to attend the Tuesday night meeting but watched the event live on MageeNews.com FaceBook page.
I learned a lot about our present system and how the system is wayyyyyy out of date. Personally, I thought we still had the system that flashed on the screen the location of where the 911 call originated as well as provided directions to the emergency. Boy was I wrong! The sad thing is, we did have the monitor type system years ago but a change that took place about six years ago when Kenneth Lewis was Sheriff moved the system to a central location in the county. I believe Valadie said the E 911 office and our jail still have the “visible” system. Simpson County became a part of the hub system in Rankin County. From what I understood that seems to be where the problem began.
Our phone bills show a charge for emergency systems. Where is this money going?
At the board meeting, Mayor Berry alluded that perhaps our Supervisors were not spending the E 911 money properly. Well, ‘it” hit the fan. Supervisor Danny Craft made it very clear in a meeting Wednesday morning that the supervisors were unaware of this problem and it was not something they did or didn’t do. Heck, Danny said they didn’t even know about the problem. As with many “boards,” our present Board of Supervisors inherited the problem. And folks, it is a problem. You can rest assured Danny Craft is leading the charge to find out why and what can be done to correct the situation. I’m sure it is all about money, but Danny stated repeatedly that saving a life is a top priority with the Board. Craft wanted to know why this problem had not already been brought to the board’s attention. Good question!
Patrice will have more factual details in her Board of Aldermen report and the report of the meeting held Wednesday morning at City Hall with Craft, Dale Berry, Lane Steele, Joe Worrell, Charlie Valadie, Randy Crawford, Pat Brown, Patrice Boykin, and myself.
I’m just saying, seeing that lone phone sitting on that desk as our E 911 service gave me the creeps. Thank goodness we have such outstanding dispatchers who have figured out how to make our system work the best possible way with few options.
Plans to have a planning meeting are in the works. I’ll keep ya’ll posted. But we need more than a meeting to solve this problem.
(More info to be posted on MageeNews UnCut on Facebook)
