911 Center upgrades draw support

The SPLOST panel is hearing requests for funding.

The SPLOST Citizens Advisory Committee is hearing funding requests.

Members of the SPLOST Citizens Advisory Committee spent more than three hours Thursday hearing project proposals from city and county officials.

One got a round of applause.

“This is one of the smallest projects on the list, but 85 percent of it directly relates to the comfort and security of the people working in the center,” said John Blalock, director of the Floyd County 911 Center.

Blalock is seeking a $257,000 earmark in the 2019 special purpose, local option sales tax package voters will decide on in November. He said his dispatchers send emergency responders to more than 168,000 calls a year but are working with failing equipment in cramped quarters.

His presentation to committee members drew praise from several, including Jeff Chandler, a former prison warden.

“When you make that 911 call and it’s the worst day of your life, remember they do that 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Chandler said. “It’s embarrassing we make them work in those conditions.”

The committee is expecting to hear six or seven presentations a week through July before deciding which requests to recommend for funding. Six others were presented Thursday:

Rome has already budgeted $175,000 to start on the Fifth Avenue Arts District Streetscape, but Public Services Manager Kirk Milam said an additional $2,237,700 from the SPLOST would let them do it all at once instead of piecemeal.

Rome and Floyd County are each seeking a $4.4 million earmark for energy efficiency upgrades at city buildings and the installation of fiber optic cable connecting city and county facilities.

Also on the list: A secondary access road at East Central Elementary School for $395,000 and $520,000 to renovate the meeting rooms and bathrooms at The Forum River Center.

Floyd County Water Department’s request for $5.2 million to extend lines to Texas Valley also had support — from residents in the area dependant on wells.

“If the electricity goes out, we don’t have water,” said Tommy Rickman. See Sunday’s edition for more project details.