By Barry Porterfield
Staff Writer
June 28, 2008 02:38 pm
—
Residents and businesses scattered throughout all of Garvin County will soon get a visit from officials looking to map and address each and every home as part of a 911 effort.
The target date of Monday, July 7 has been set to begin collecting data for the establishment of a true 911 emergency telephone system that will one day cover the entire the county.
That according to 911 coordinator Diann Williams, who simply wants to get the word out so residents will know what to expect and not be alarmed.
“We want people to know what to expect. We want people to know we’re out there,” Williams said.
What people can expect to see at some point over the next few weeks and months is a group of two or three people driving up to their homes in a white vehicle with GeoComm printed on the side doors.
There will also be a red 911 emblem shown near the rear of the vehicle.
Among the group will be technicians with GeoComm, which is the Minnesota company awarded the project, and in some cases Williams as she expects to at times accompany them in what amounts to a door-to-door campaign all over the county.
“They’ll be getting GPS readings on locations all over the county,” Williams said referring to a Global Positioning System.
“One of the GeoComm employees will get a GPS reading on each driveway using a hand-held computer.”
Yet another goal will be to match the driveway locations with the residents who are living at those homes right now.
If residents are home when the team comes by they’ll be asked to fill out a brief survey for that very purpose.
When the team shows up and no one’s home a survey will be left on the front door that can be mailed in postage free.
The mapping process will also apply to businesses and other locations.
As part of the field work technical data will also be collected on roads throughout the county.
Williams is hoping this process can be done faster than expected, possibly in early- to mid-fall.
“This step should be completed by late September or early October,” she said.
“After that they’ll take all the data collected and create a digital mapping system for the computer.”
With this process taking care of needed information for the 911 system, the big question afterwards is where the county’s future 911 communications center will be located.
“The next step after that is decide where we are going to be and equipping a central com center,” Williams said.
The entire 911 idea got the approval of Garvin County voters back in February 2007 when they passed two funding measures for the system.
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