E-911 Dispatch Board’s mapping project faces Dec. 31 completion deadline
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette
Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014, 10:30 p.m. — A new 340-foot antenna tower that will serve as the communications hub for 
Nelson County E-911 Dispatch should be cleared to begin construction once it receives approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
E-911 board member Joe Prewitt discussed the tower project during the E-911 Dispatch board’s monthly meeting Tuesday afternoon. The tower has received preliminary approvals for its construction on a tract of land owned by Salt River Electric adjacent to the Nelson County Industrial Park. The tower will replace an existing tower currently in use on Caney Fork Road.
GIS MAPPING UPDATE. Josh Cammack updated the board on his work to correct and verify home and business addresses that were inaccurate in the database. The work is necessary so the E-911 Board can continue to receive 911 fees, which provide income for the dispatch center operation.
Cammack said he had met with Judge Executive Dean Watts to discuss issue of unnamed private roads in the county. The goal of the mapping project is to provide an accurate address for every residence and business in the county. This information is critical when police, fire or EMS respond in an emergency.
There will be some adjustment needed in both the county and the cities.
Cammack noted that there are unnamed alleys in the city which will need to be named in order for the mapping information to be complete. Out in the county, private roads will have to named, and individuals who live on those roads will receive new mailing addresses.
Since the postal service doesn’t deliver mail down a private road, residents usually have their mailboxes place along the main highway. This won’t change, Cammack said. The only change is that the private road will have a name and a numerical address will be assigned to every home on the road.
The board discussed the need for the local government to adopt ordinances to address the issue in the near future. The deadline to get the GIS mapping complete is Dec. 31, 2014. Once the information in the GIS database is complete and verified, it will be subject to a state audit to determine the accuracy of the database.
DIGITAL DEADLINE. The county law enforcement has the equipment in place to make the conversion from analogue FM radio communications to digital communications, according to a report to the board by Prewitt. The digital radio signals will be more secure and can be encrypted.
All the radio equipment used now is digital-ready, he explained, but an issue has been raised with one of the frequencies being proposed for law enforcement use. One of the law enforcement frequencies is being delayed due to conflict with other agencies who are using the same frequency in the Garrard County by Bluegrass 911 Central Communications, the E-911 dispatch service for Garrard and Lincoln counties.
A new frequency is also in process for the Boston Fire Department, and Prewitt said he would suggest law enforcement going digital once the frequency assignments are approved.
PAGING DILEMMA. The county’s fire departments use radio pagers to alert their volunteers, and moving to narrow band transmissions for paging is an “iffy” proposition, Prewitt explained. He recommended the dispatch board set up one of its older transmitters on a new frequency dedicated only for fire department paging. The fire departments will have new, narrow-band radio equipment, and the narrow-band equipment is not effective for paging. The single frequency for paging solves this problem, he explained. No action was taken on the recommendation.
NEXT UP: The next meeting of the E-911 Dispatch Board is 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014, at EMS Station 1, 1301 Atkinson Hill Road.
-30-
