Published: May 28, 2009 11:06 am      

Despite protests, county approves 911 system

While the Grady County Commissioners approved an agreement with AT&T to lease new 911 equipment on Tuesday, there were several police officers from local communities on hand to protest the proposed increase in cost for the service.

“We have a serious problem funding 911 right now,” said Deputy Gary Journeycake. “It is not sustainable at the current rate and the only way to fund it is through outlying communities.”

However, because revenues are down in smaller towns, police departments say they cannot afford the proposed increases in fees which would raise their payments to as much as $1,300 per month.

Journeycake said the rates have not been changed in 20 years and that the county must “adjust to present day scales.”

Grady County District Attorney Bret Burns said having two 911 systems in place, one for the city of Chickasha, the other for Grady County, is a waste of money.

“Duncan has one 911 system for the entire county that is working well with one set of dispatchers,” said Burns. “It is feasible to sit down and talk about combining the systems.”

According to Commissioner Jack Porter, the city of Chickasha collects only three percent of 911 fees and does not have Enhanced 911 services and the city of Tuttle is with the ASCOG System which may pervent them from participating.

“There’s a huge difference between an enhanced 911 system and what they (the city) are trying to do,” said Porter. “There are a lot of things that need to be done to make it work, but all this could be worked out.”

The board approved a motion by Porter to increase the fees paid by local fire departments from $50 per month to $300 per month, and Burns agreed to set up a meeting with city and county officials to discuss combining the two systems.

Next, Correctional and Public Safety Consultant Larry Fields spoke to the board about issues concerning the Grady County Jail.

Fields began by pointing out that there will soon be 200 more federal inmates at the jail and said he and Sherrie Greco, who was also in attendance, would take a look at the make up of the Grady County Jail Authority, its membership and duties and then make recommendations.

“There are management-level issues with jail and we need accountability as to who is running that ship,” said Burns. “If it’s the jail authority, let them run the jail. Either the jail authority runs the jail or the jail authority will be abolished.”

Burns also said he asked state auditors to audit the jail last summer.

“It was completed in November, but we’re still waiting on that audit. We’ve been waiting since last year,” said Burns, who told the board the audit will be presented to the board before it is released.

Finally, OSU Extension Educator Susan Routh introduced new extension educator Emily Gregory and nutrition Education Assistant Denise Castillo to the board.