Freestone County discusses 9-1-1 move, equipment readiness and related public-safety tech purchases

Freestone County Commissioners and county staff discussed readiness to relocate the county’s emergency dispatch operations and upgrade related communications equipment, including 9-1-1 consoles, backup radios and in-car laptops.

County staff said contractor Huffman's is scheduled to install most equipment on Wednesday, “call the twelfth,” and that the vendor will complete everything needed for a move date so the county can be transitioned with minimal downtime. "They'll have everything ready for the move date," a staff member said.

Why it matters: moving a dispatch center and updating phone and radio systems is intended to preserve uninterrupted 9-1-1 service and paging capability for emergency responders while the physical relocation is completed.

County staff described work under way and outstanding items: temporary backup radios will be installed so dispatch is not completely out of service during the move, but the county may not be able to send certain pages (for example, to Southern Oaks) until the new system is fully configured. Staff said new 9-1-1 consoles may be sent to regional councils of governments and the county may receive newer consoles instead of reusing its older units.

Staff also reported progress on telephone and data circuits. A staff member said a Verizon circuit at the new site will be activated and that Windstream does not yet have a hard installation date. "I still don't have a hard date on Windstream," the staff member said. The same staff member said county staff are working with a vendor contact (Jennifer) on how the county phone auto-attendant and directory will be set up "and I'll be working with you on how we're gonna set up the directory."

The county discussed equipment funded through grants. In-car laptops for law enforcement were described as being covered by a sheriff's grant; the county staff said unit prices dropped by about $20 per unit compared with prior estimates and that delivery of the laptops is expected before the dispatch system goes live. Commissioners moved to purchase 20 laptops for $21,400; a motion was made and seconded at the meeting (vote tally not specified in the transcript).

Staff also described the county's annual cybersecurity training enrollment. The program identified in the meeting—referred to as the county’s annual cybersecurity course—will be submitted for approval so links can be distributed and staff can complete the training.

What comes next: staff said they are waiting for final switches and for Windstream to provide a concrete date; once the vendors finalize configurations and bring up circuits, the county will set a formal move date and perform final testing.

Notes: statements quoted above are taken from county staff remarks during the meeting; where the transcript did not include named speakers, statements are attributed to "a staff member."