Houston County amends 911 budget, approves part-time hire and equipment upgrades

Houston County commissioners and staff on an operational budget call amended the county 911 budget, authorized several technology upgrades and approved hiring a part-time dispatcher support position for the county dispatch office.

The changes include authorization to use current-year funds to replace aging 9-1-1 phone/computer equipment and to update radio/gateway equipment; authorization for a part-time hire at $15 per hour (up to 24 hours per week) to assist dispatch staff; and board direction to revise salary lines for next year’s budget. The board voted to adopt the budget as amended.

Why it matters: The county’s 911 center described multiple aging systems — including a decades-old uninterruptible power supply (UPS), desktop and CAD computers running unsupported software, and older portable radios — and told the board those items present both reliability and interoperability risks for emergency response. The budget amendments and purchases are intended to address near-term failures and to position the center to use recently available services such as RapidSOS and upgraded gateway connections.

County staff described equipment problems and options during the meeting. They said the UPS at one site is at or past its useful life and noted previous battery…