Commissioners approve enhanced 9-1-1 system

The Hot Springs County Commissioners approved the leasing of a new enhanced 9-1-1 system for the county at their Tuesday morning meeting.

Dean Peranteaux who handles all the IT services for the county, estimates our current system will have a massive failure within the next six to 12 months. Peranteaux, along with a committee consisting of first responders and emergency management, reviewed several proposals for a new system before narrowing their choice down to a new Motorola system from ECW, Emergency Call Works.

The ECW system is being used in surrounding towns, and while it is not the least expensive option, it is the one with the most comprehensive package.

The 10-year lease option includes the hardware, refresh software, maintenance and upgrades, all in one set price of $274,978.

The lease is at 5.05% interest for the 10-year period, so the commissioners are going to check into other financing options.

Another piece that could be added to the system is from a company called Comtek-CTC.

It is a text to 9-1-1 option that is prevalent in other areas and would be a good thing to have in the event a flood were to disable the phone system.

The commissioners are going to look into other financing options before making their final decision at their next meeting.

Maintenance supervisor Anthony Fruciano let the commissioners know the museum is almost up and running like normal.

Most of the areas are open for visitors, but it will probably be two to three weeks before it arrives. There is also work going on remodeling the kitchen.

Fruciano suggested the museum needs updated fire alarms. Currently, there is a break in alarm system that goes directly to dispatch, but the smoke alarms are simply household alarms.

If they had had smoke detectors that went directly to dispatch, the fire would have been caught as soon as it started and there would have been less damage.

Fruciano has received a bid for $13,300 for that type of system, but said it was not an immediate need, but one that definitely needs to be discussed in the future.

Fortunately, other than the $500 deductible, all of the damage at the museum is being covered by insurance.

Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon said he is really comfortable with the run-off situation this year. He said barring any huge weather event, there is 17 1/2 feet of fillable space in the lake at this time.

Gordon said the river flows will go up as usual, perhaps as high as 5,000 cfs. He will be monitoring the small creeks and streams as he normally does, but doesn’t see any major flooding on the horizon.

The final item of business by the commissioners was setting the salaries for the elected officials. Those salaries must be set every four years.

This year, they are not asking for a raise for themselves, but would rather see a raise for their employees who have not had a raise in four years.

What they are proposing is a $150 per month increase for the employees for the first year, a $100 per month increase the second year, followed by $75 and $50 increases the third and fourth years.

For themselves, they would forego a raise this year. The second year they would like a $150 per month raise then $100 per month the third and fourth year.

The commissioners were not ready to discuss the employees raises at this time, but will take it up again closer to setting the budget. They did, however, accept the suggested raise scale proposed by the elected officials.