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Hardy County 911 director: Motorola, carriers moving on Lost City tower; NextGen upgrade needs GIS cleanup
Summary
County 911 director Paul Lewis told commissioners Motorola and mobile carriers are preparing equipment work on the Lost City tower and that a Next Generation 911 platform rollout depends on updating county GIS address data. He also reported March call volumes and said federal grant awards remain uncertain pending the federal budget.
Paul Lewis, Hardy County 9-1-1 director, told the county commission that Motorola is scheduled to install equipment on the Lost City radio tower “maybe this week or next week,” and that mobile carriers have expressed interest in collocating equipment there.
Lewis said T‑Mobile is ready to add equipment once the county signs a lease and that he has asked AT&T to send its engineering team to assess the site. He also urged updating local GIS address information ahead of a planned Next Generation 9‑1‑1 platform rollout: “One thing that probably needs to be done is a company needs to come in and look at the GIS information because the next gen is based on GIS information,” he said.
The March call-volume summary Lewis delivered showed 615 total calls into the center; 281 calls involving the sheriff’s office; 42 from state police; and 92 paged to HCEAA EMS. He said the fire and rescue agencies also had routine call activity and listed department-level counts during his report.
Lewis told commissioners the county has not received word on most 2025 federal grant awards, noting some programs are being renamed or adjusted as Congress negotiates the federal budget. He said an EMPG application is in and, if awarded, would bring “a little over $24,000” to the county for the 2023 EMPG cycle.
During the discussion commissioners pressed for operational improvements tied to call accounting and interagency communications. Lewis described manual reconciliation as the current workaround for “double reporting” when multiple agencies respond to a single incident and agreed to accept reconciled monthly reports from agencies, while urging agencies to supply daily staffing status so 9‑1‑1 and field partners can coordinate shift coverage.
The commission also adopted a separate resolution during the meeting proclaiming April 13–19, 2025, as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week; the motion passed unanimously.
