Audio clip
Shane Clark
Local 911 districts will receive more than $4 million this year from the state Emergency Communications Board.
The money will help fill shortfalls from recent years, improve training and purchase new equipment, directors say, but changes to how the districts are funded still are needed.
"The finger's been put in the dike for right now," said Hamilton County 911 Director John Stuermer. "The problem is that it's a temporary fix."
The communications board is distributing more than $37 million this year among the 100 emergency communications districts in Tennessee, including the 13 in Southeast Tennessee.
Local districts collect $1.50 for each landline telephone user each month to fund operations, Mr. Stuermer said. For each wireless user in a district, a percentage of a $1 fee is disbursed back to the district from the Emergency Communications Board.
Each month more landline users switch to wireless, which decreases the money sent to local districts.
"We're asking that the state Legislature look at revisiting the construction of the revenue stream," Mr. Stuermer said.
For the last 10 years, the communications board has worked with wireless companies by reimbursing costs for building wireless networks across the state, especially in rural areas where the companies otherwise might not build, board spokesman Andy Spears said.
Beginning this year, the money previously reimbursed to the companies will be distributed back to the districts to fill the revenue gap made by customers' switching to wireless phones.
About $10 million is being sent back to the districts through the cost recovery program, and more than $1 million will go to the 13 counties in Southeast Tennessee.
Shane Clark, Rhea County 911 director, said other funding from the board would help his district's staff.
"From our perspective, the training money is going to be the most effective thing," he said.
Rhea County will receive $16,000 of more than $2 million in training money doled out by the board.
Mr. Clark said that, with a small department and high turnover in the 911 operator field, his work is a constant balancing act of training new staff. But even sending operators off to training raises scheduling questions, he said.
"My problem is having the extra staff members while they're gone," he said.
With a total of 12 operators working three shifts to run the center, if three or more operators leave for training, then the shifts are shorthanded, he said.
Other money for the districts is to be used to buy digital equipment that could bring video, photo and text capabilities to 911 districts across the state.
The communications board will distribute more than $25 million to begin the digital upgrade this year. Mr. Spears said the project is just beginning and likely won't see the complete changeover to digital for more than two years.
The equipment's capabilities are interesting, Mr. Stuermer said, but with the new equipment, operators will need more training. The big question is how to train operators to use the new technology and to see how video, photos and text fit in emergency communications, he said.
"Quick and concise communications is crucial in 911," Mr. Stuermer said. "This is an exciting time and actually a kind of scary time in the same place."
Todd South covers courts and the military for the Times Free Press. He has worked at the paper for three years and previously covered crime and safety in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia. Todd’s hometown is Dodge City, Kan. He served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps and deployed to Iraq before returning to school for his journalism degree from the University of Georgia. Todd previously worked at the Anniston (Ala.) Star. Contact Todd ...
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