E-911 to save on part

BENTON - If all goes well, Scott County E-911 will save $1,800 on a dispatching equipment part.

Joe Burton, administrator for Scott County Emergency 911 services, reported during Tuesday's county commission meeting on repairs needed for the emergency call recorder at the county's off-site Public Safety Answering Point in Miner.

The problem was determined to be the hard drive, which Burton said is the same part which broke at the main E-911 center in Morley last year. Unable to find local support, Burton said they contacted the manufacturer for the part. "And they charged us $2,000."

A local vendor who examined the hard drive from the Miner center's equipment believes it to be "just a regular hard disk" which costs about $180, according to Burton. "We're going to plug it up and see if it works."

Burton said the hard drive appears to be the weak link in the system which converts each emergency call into a digital file, stores it temporarily on the hard drive, and backs it up to digital data tape. Each tape holds 500 hours of speech.

The E-911 equipment at Miner was placed there to act as a backup for the main center, according to Burton.

In other Scott County commission business:

* Commissioner Jamie Burger reported the leak along the wall at the main courtroom was repaired along with the damage it caused. "The courtroom looks good," said Walter Bizzell, commissioner.

Sound-deadening boards and rotten wood around the windows were replaced and areas were repainted.

Commissioners reported the electrical upgrades and additions in the main courtroom are also finished.

* The bill for boarding Scott County prisoners at the Mississippi County Detention Center during January was $40,152, according to Burger, and was $11,875 for those prisoners boarded at Butler County. "And that doesn't include any medical costs," he added.