July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Cost of R-911 is high (11/07/06)
Jay County Commissioners
By By MARY ANN LEWIS-
The cost of providing the county with a Reverse 911 system could be more expensive long-term than purchasing a weather scanner for every household, Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod told Jay County Commissioners Monday afternoon.
Although no one is proposing the county pay for household scanners, Penrod said his feeling is that it would be less expensive in the long run than the cost to install the Reverse 911 system.
Commissioners asked Penrod Monday for an update on the proposed system they have discussed for the past couple of years.
Reverse 911 is designed to notify residents in a targeted area by phone in the event of a weather emergency or other disaster.
"For $20 you can go to Radio Shack and buy a (weather) scanner," he told Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr. "The monitor is a great way to go. Every family should have one."
The scanner is programmed to receive weather alert messages from the National Weather Service, he explained.
"They will get it (the weather alert) at the same time the weather station makes the announcement," Penrod said.
Penrod said currently the sheriff's department implements a call system to local businesses and industries, and purchase of a scanner by those individual entities would save several minutes in that process.
Although commissioners have heard presentations in the past from providers of the Reverse 911 service, an actual cost has never been presented.
Estimates have put the installation out of the county's reach financially right now since money generated through a surcharge on phone bills would be the source of funding the installation and currently that fund "about breaks even," Penrod said.
The $1.75 charge on residents' telephone bills is used to maintain and update the county's emergency 911 system, Penrod told commissioners. The county also receives a 50 cent charge from all cell phones as well that is used to fund 911.
"Ya' can get 'em to buy a smoke detector," Miller said about residents making the scanner purchase. "How ya' gonna' get 'em to buy a scanner?"
Additionally Monday afternoon, Penrod told commissioners he would be looking at the purchase of two new vehicles for the sheriff's department.
A 2004 Ford Crown Victoria the department drives has 114,000 miles and a 2003 Chevy Impala registers 124,000 miles, Penrod said.
He said he would contact local dealers and present quotes to commissioners on Dec. 18.[[In-content Ad]]
Although no one is proposing the county pay for household scanners, Penrod said his feeling is that it would be less expensive in the long run than the cost to install the Reverse 911 system.
Commissioners asked Penrod Monday for an update on the proposed system they have discussed for the past couple of years.
Reverse 911 is designed to notify residents in a targeted area by phone in the event of a weather emergency or other disaster.
"For $20 you can go to Radio Shack and buy a (weather) scanner," he told Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr. "The monitor is a great way to go. Every family should have one."
The scanner is programmed to receive weather alert messages from the National Weather Service, he explained.
"They will get it (the weather alert) at the same time the weather station makes the announcement," Penrod said.
Penrod said currently the sheriff's department implements a call system to local businesses and industries, and purchase of a scanner by those individual entities would save several minutes in that process.
Although commissioners have heard presentations in the past from providers of the Reverse 911 service, an actual cost has never been presented.
Estimates have put the installation out of the county's reach financially right now since money generated through a surcharge on phone bills would be the source of funding the installation and currently that fund "about breaks even," Penrod said.
The $1.75 charge on residents' telephone bills is used to maintain and update the county's emergency 911 system, Penrod told commissioners. The county also receives a 50 cent charge from all cell phones as well that is used to fund 911.
"Ya' can get 'em to buy a smoke detector," Miller said about residents making the scanner purchase. "How ya' gonna' get 'em to buy a scanner?"
Additionally Monday afternoon, Penrod told commissioners he would be looking at the purchase of two new vehicles for the sheriff's department.
A 2004 Ford Crown Victoria the department drives has 114,000 miles and a 2003 Chevy Impala registers 124,000 miles, Penrod said.
He said he would contact local dealers and present quotes to commissioners on Dec. 18.[[In-content Ad]]
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