County Commissioners this morning heard a proposal for a 911 system that would provide more detailed information on callers, but want to hear from counties who use the service before signing up. Andrew Gutteridge, regional sales director for Rave Mobile Safety, spoke about Smart911 on the invitation of Kosciusko Communications Center Director David Rosenberry. The director said he’s been considering the service for several years and that it stood out from proposals they often get that just wind up in the drawer. Gutteridge described Smart911 as a national database that stores additional information submitted by callers ahead of time such as address, allergies and photographs of children or pets, which gets transmitted to the dispatch center whenever they call. The service is used statewide in some parts of the country, and in Indiana by counties including Porter and Delaware. He said it’s something “frequent fliers” of 911 benefit from, and gave examples such as dispatchers having the address and known medical conditions of people who call but are unable to speak – in normal 911 calls, dispatchers may have a much harder time finding the caller’s location in such a case. Rosenberry said the service could be “another piece of the puzzle” in assisting a 911 caller, and that his center currently has the budget to cover the first-year cost – $15,000 – and the first regularly yearly payment of $12,000 after that. The service is free for residents to create profiles and submit information. Commissioners indicated interest in the program but were hesitant because of the cost. Commissioner Ron Truex said he would rather keep the program going once it got started, rather than limiting themselves to a two-year contract as Gutteridge suggested. Truex also said he would like to get signup figures from Porter County, remarking that he would like to know if they can expect 50,000 residents to use the service or only 50. Commissioners later read a proclamation recognizing county emergency medical workers and declaring this week Emergency Medical Services Week. They gave a copy of the proclamation to service chiefs from several towns who attended the meeting. Also this morning, commissioners granted Highway Superintendent Scott Tilden permission to advertise for bids for two new dump trucks, noting that his department purchased none last year and only one in 2012; and at his request agreed to draft an ordinance to place no-through semi-truck signs on Ferguson Road between CR 200S and Ind. 15, and on CR 200S between Ind. 15 and 25. And at Area Plan Director Dan Richard’s recommendation they approved a rezoning request from Agriculture to Agriculture 2 for an 8.9-acre tract on CR 875W in Etna Township, owned by Nifong Farms Holdings; and approved a change to the county zoning ordinance setting two miles of separation between communication towers rather than six, on the grounds that the county has been receiving more requests for variance from the six-mile rule. The changes also exempt essential services from setback rules, and measure setbacks from property lines rather than leased land lines in the case of tower accessory structures on leased land within a larger tract.
