Emergency system backup en route

Gear fills communication gap in three cell towers if power lost

Matters before the DeSoto 911 District Commission hummed along as the panel heard that installation was on schedule for new battery backup sys- tems for three of the district’s four cell towers. The UPS, or uninterruptible power support units, are meant to deal with emergency dispatchers’ own emergency from power loss.

Chris Shelton, information technology di- rector for Southaven and the commission’s radio committee chairman, reported that a $66,297 system package from Tupelo- based 3- Point Technologies approved at last month’s meeting is expected to be delivered to Whitfield Electric Co. in Hernando in the next three to six weeks.

“It’ll go there because a loading dock is needed,” said Shelton. “Then we’ll transport the units to the individual towers.” Those will be in Southaven, Olive Branch and Hernando, where existing UPS units are worn out. The tower on Starlanding Road near Nesbit already has an updated UPS system.

He said there will be an additional expense for the “turnkey process” of transport and placement, but the new total of about $68,058 still leaves 3-Point as the low bidder. The systems are designed to keep a tower working during the critical interim when regular power is lost, such as in a severe storm or other disaster, and before emergency generators kick on

Meanwhile, training is under way on the district’s new Public Safety Answer- ing Point (dispatch center) Higher Ground recorder equipment at each of the five dispatch centers, and should be completed this week, said Shelton. Last July, the commission approved a new phone and recorder system at a cost of $1.2 million, which will trim about $8,000 a month in maintenance costs.

Filling assignments held by former commissioner Darryl Whaley, Horn Lake police chief, the panel named Michael Norris, network administrator for the Horn Lake police information technology unit, to the generator committee, and Bill Dahl, commission chairman, to the personnel committee. The panel also approved travel and expenses for board and staff wishing to attend the May 13-15 spring training seminar of the Mississippi 911 Association in Natchez.

While DeSoto’s ongoing, constantly upgraded high-tech 911 system has made such a big impact on community safety, it hardly taps the consumer pocketbook. When the commission was launched in 1988, it was tasked with installing and maintaining emergency communications through an 80-cent monthly fee attached to landline telephone bills and $1 tacked on to cellphone statements.

Dahl, a commission member from the beginning along with Greg Phillips, communications manager for Olive Branch, noted those rates haven’t changed in 25 years.

“I guess we could have sought an increase in all that time, but we’ve tried to keep it at that level and so it’s remained,” Dahl said.

“Ours is probably the lowest rate in the state on landlines,” said Debby Dunnaway, DeSoto 911 director.

The commission pays its bills and upgrades systems as its own funds or grants allow; there’s no going to the state or county for help. For the districtowned recorder and phone system, AT&T was paid $872,887 up front with the balance to be paid over 60 months in installments of about $6,290.

The commission also plans a major overhaul — a state-mandated radio system replacement — by 2015 that’s expected to cost from $5 million to $8 million.