Commissioners discuss special receiver

The Washington County E911 Board and Communications Commission met at the former Washington library Wednesday night. The commission heard a report from Washington County Communications Supervisor Cara Sorrells about an issue pertaining to special equipment at the communications center.

Sorrells said that a security firm, All-Secure, uses a special receiver at the dispatch center called an Omegalarm Receiver. It is connected to various alarms at schools, banks, private residences and other buildings throughout the county. All-Secure has complained to Sorrells that the equipment has become old, that it is hard to get parts for it and that it needs to be replaced with a new receiver. Sorrells said replacing the equipment would cost about $2,400 based on a quote she received.

Sorrells said that the communications center owns the receiver but only All-Secure uses it. The communications commission members said they didn?t understand why the dispatch center was responsible for supplying a receiver that benefited only one company. The commissioners voted to approve all expenditures except the $35 tape that goes in the receiver that records the alarms and where they emanate from.

Sorrells also gave a report on the Strategic 911 Planning Session she attended Friday. She met with a group of other 911 operators as well as cell phone and landline providers. The topic of the discussion was the surcharges that cell phones and landlines pay. Sorrells said the wireless phone providers objected to the disparity in surcharges between cell phone and landline customers. She said several of the wireless representatives said the surcharges should be the same for everyone. Sorrells also said that the phone providers were united in their opposition to surcharges at the county level. She said they did not like that counties such as Washington County could raise their surcharges higher than surrounding counties.

Washington County charges $1.50 per landline per month to finance 911 equipment. However, a bill signed by Gov. Terry Branstad a few weeks ago put a moratorium on surcharges over $1.