Published: July 22, 2008 10:34 pm            

County suspends One Call system

911 director says emergency warning technology has a glitch

After obtaining the One Call Now System earlier this year, the Pulaski County Fiscal Court voted to suspend its use for up to 60 days during Tuesday’s meeting.

The suspension comes after problems were discovered with the system on Monday, when it was activated during a severe thunderstorm watch.

Rick Barker, director of the Pulaski County 911 Communications Center, came before the court to discuss the system’s problem and asked that the court approve not using the system until the bugs are fixed. Barker said he believed the system, such as it is, was causing a liability.

The One Call Now System is a telephone-based communication service that allows mass communication to numerous individuals within a large area. Many school systems have adopted the system to inform parents about school closings and other notices. Currently, the Pulaski County School System, Somerset Independent Schools, and the Science Hill Independent district all use the service.

In February, the county adopted the system because Won Way Communications was offering the service to counties across the state to use in emergency situations. While the county has sirens, local officials believed the system would alert more citizens to certain situations.

“We have had a good deal of success with it; however, we do have a problem once we implement a call out there,” said Barker. “We’re having serious problems with the effect it is having on phone lines.”

Barker explained that after the call went out on Monday, many phone lines went out. The communications center received many calls following the phone outage that lasted 12 to 14 hours.

“Never was that our intention to have this negative ramification,” said Barker. “The one-call is still a good thing, but we have to do something to see that it is implemented without the liability.”

Barker said many people believe the calls are made to alert people of weather situations, such as a thunderstorm warning or tornado warning, are made right here in Pulaski County, but that isn’t the case. He explained that someone goes on-line to activate One Call Now, at which time they select the areas of the county to be called. After that, the One Call Now headquarters pumps out the 30,000 calls for the whole county.

Though there were problems with land line phones with service through Windstream, Barker said there were also problems with cell phones on Monday.

“With the problems we’ve had yesterday, and until something can be resolved, I think it would be proper for the court to make a motion on this since you all enacted it,” said Barker. “I’m asking the court to suspend making these calls until that point when we can get this resolved.”

Public Safety Director Tiger Robinson said officials met with Windstream several months ago following a problem, which they believed was due to downed phone lines, which wasn’t the case this time.

“Now it is more definite that (the problem) is something internal,” said Robinson.

Barker said participation from all those involved — including the county, Windstream, One Call and cell phone providers — is necessary to solve the problem.

“It has to be a joint effort of all of us to correct the problem,” said Barker.

Barker said he felt until there was some assurance that the system would not compromise phone lines in the county that it would be in the best interest of the public not to use it.

Another test on the system will be performed before it is reactivated.

“I think it is something we can resolve,” said Barker.

“It’s a good thing, a good investment, a great buy for the county,” he added, “but there is a little glitch we need to fix.”

Magistrate Kenny Isaacs said if the county can’t get the system fixed, officials will ask for their money back. Barker agreed that would be the next option, in case the system can’t be used effectively in the future.

The court approved suspending calls by One Call Now for 60 days or until the problem is resolved.

In other business:

• Neil Shoemaker, representing the Lake Cumberland Resort Homeowners Association, had concerns about the boat ramp at their location.

He said the ramp had been out of the lake for quite some time and though the ramp is the county’s property, the association is willing to pay for the design and engineering to see what needs to be done to have it fixed. That application would need to go through the county for approval.

Shoemaker said it would not tie the county to any funding. He added that once they are able to see how much it would cost to fix the ramp, they can begin looking for the money.

The court approved a resolution that would allow them to help with the application for Lake Cumberland Resort Homeowners Association.

• Magistrate Tommy Barnett said he was speaking as a citizen, and all that he ever requested was a time limit on people speaking, so it would be fair to everybody in the room to have an opportunity to voice their issues.

• Carolyn Mounce, executive director of the Somerset-Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau, said they own a 1999 ford Windstar 7 passenger van that they would like to offer to the county because they are buying another vehicle.

“We wanted to offer that vehicle to the county if you all would want to take it and use it,” Mounce said. “It does have a billboard on it and we would appreciate that you leave it on there.”

The court approved accepting the vehicle.

• The court approved giving $2,500 to the Babe Ruth Baseball organization, which will be hosting the 15-year-old baseball Ohio Valley Regional Tournament in Pulaski County from July 31 to Aug. 5.

“It’s quite an honor to get to host that,” said Pulaski County Judge-Executive Barty Bullock.

• The court approved Jeff Gibson for the tractor operator’s position at the county road department with an annual salary of $27,416.

        

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