9-1-1 system up and running

NORWALK — A special needs registry has been approved for the county. The Huron County commissioners approved the county's Emergency Management Agency to create a special needs registry. Tacy Bond, 9-1-1 coordinator of Huron County Emergency Management Agency (EMA), presented the application to the commissioners for approval. The program is for those with a special physical or medical need that may require assistance in cases of emergency. Bond said individuals will have to provide correct and up to date information for the registry. The registry would allow families to sign up and provide pertinent information that would be entered into the computer dispatch system for first responders. Bond said EMA has already received up to 20 applications for the registry. The registry would be for all of Huron County. Bond said they plan to push out this information using social media and with the assistance of other county agencies. She said the notification would only show if they are responding to a call near the location. "It'll go live on our website, probably this week," Bond said. "I think a lot of people could fall under this, but it's whether or not they want to give the information." Commissioner Skip Wilde said the special needs registry is "awesome." He said if the registry can save one person's life, that's enough. Bond also provided an update on the county's 9-1-1 system. She said the county has received all necessary equipment and installations. She said everything is up on the new system besides the dispatcher software. Bond said some pieces of the radio system are still being fine-tuned but the new system is up and running. "We've been up and using it for a few weeks, the only thing we're not using is the dispatch portion," she said. "We're still working on the encrypted recordings. All the agencies have decided to go encrypted." The commissioners recently approved a new contract for the upgrades to the system. The board entered a three-year agreement with Frontier Communications and will cost $4,960 a month. "The dispatch at the sheriff's department is up and working, all the other agencies are actually up and working," she said. "But it's not tied into the dispatch system through all the piece apps yet due to Frontier." One issue with the new system is a small portion of Bellevue is losing signal due to a depression in the earth. "One solution that we have is LTE service, so like a cell phone. We would pay Verizon for a one year data plan," she said. Bond said this would be the cheapest option and would allow for the radios to work anywhere in the country because it will have coverage like a cell phone. She said Sandusky and Erie counties are also considering changing their system to the same vendor as Huron County, which would also help with Bellevue coverage. In other business, Huron County engineer Lee Tansey said crews are just now starting to get back to a regular schedule after operating around the clock early in the week. The commissioners said the crews did a wonderful job keeping the roads clear and removing snow.