The Carter County 911 dispatch center is one step closer to moving into its new office space.
The Carter County 911 Emergency Board of Directors discussed plans to move to the new facility during its meeting Wednesday morning.
GIS/Information Technologist Chris Sims said the switch was scheduled to happen on July 16 at 9 a.m.
In preparation for the switch, Sims said the operating, phone, communications and computer systems would be tested at the new location before the switch happened.
Carter County Rescue Squad Director Terry Arnold asked why the switch couldn’t be done overnight when call volume was lower.
Sims explained that having the service transfer happen in the day would help with the telephone switch. He said CenturyLink would be on hand with additional consoles so that when the switch happened any issues could be addressed right away.
For the radio communication system, mobile units will be in place and technicians will be on standby to address any mapping problems that might occur.
“The system will be running in parallel,” Sims said. “We’ll test them before the switch and then, when the time comes, there should not be any interruptions in service.”
Sims said if any problems did occur, 911 calls to Carter County would be routed to Washington County until the situation was repaired.
“Basically the work will all be done ahead of time and on July 16, we will just have to hit a button and everything will be switched over,” said Board Chairman and Carter County Emergency Management Director Andrew Worley. “We’re a month out and everything is coming together.”
The board will host an open house for the new dispatch center on June 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
In preparation for the move, the board approved a contract to seal and stripe the parking lot for $1,250. They also approved a design for the new dispatch center sign to be installed outside the building.
The board also approved to run a request for proposals for a new lawyer for the board. Current legal counsel Lisa Rice will be leaving her position after the August meeting as she was elected to be the new Criminal Court Judge Part 1.