ONLY ONLINE: Whitley 911 Center getting upgrade to computer aided dispatching

The Whitley County 911 center is getting an upgrade to its computer aided dispatching capabilities thanks in part to a 911 tax on cell phone bills.

The Whitley County Fiscal Court held a special meeting Monday morning to approve an order pertaining to the Commercial Mobile Radio Service Grant.

The fiscal court authorized the transfer of up to $166,700 from the road fund to temporarily pay for the new system.

Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. said that the county recently learned that it would have to pay for the new system up front, and then would be reimbursed for 100 percent of the new system’s cost.

The system has to be installed by Nov. 30 in order to qualify for the grant funds, which is what led to Monday’s special meeting so the funds could be transferred, White said.

Whitley County Treasurer Jeff Gray said he would cut a check for about 80 percent of the project’s cost this week, and that the road fund would be reimbursed as soon as the state sends the county a check. This will probably take one to two weeks to receive.

White said that the computer aided dispatch system is designed to be upgraded about every five years, and that it has been six or seven years since the current system was upgraded.

The computer aided dispatch system gives 911 dispatchers GPS coordinates to homes when a 911 call is made from a land based telephone line.

Although the grant to pay for the upgrade is funded by a tax on 911 cell phone bills, the new system won’t show dispatchers the location of cell phone callers, just the cell phone tower they are using, White said.

The upgrade will affect the 911 facilities in both Williamsburg and Corbin.