Calhoun County 911 Board Tackles New System Roll Out at Meeting

Meeting Called to Order

Roll Call of Members

• Board Chairman – Chief Gary Sparks, Oxford Fire Department – Present

• Board Vice -Chairman – Sheriff Matthew Wade, Calhoun County Sheriff Office – Present

• Director Randy Reaves, Safety and Security, Calhoun County BOE – Present

• Chief Van Roberts Sr., Quad Cities VFD (Retired) – Absent

• Trooper Herbert Palmore, ALDPS (Retired) – Absent

• Chief Shane Denham, Anniston Police Department (Retired) – Present

• Calhoun County Administrator, Mark Tyner – Absent

• ADD: Under New Business – Motion to Allow Chairman to sign an Engagement Letter with the Auditor

Approval of Minutes – Unanimously Approved

Approval of Financial Reports – Unanimously Approved

• Summary was given as of September 2021. The total revenue is at 35% of the budgeted amount and the total expenditures are only at 82.36%. The net income does show a loss, but the loss is at $98,000 were $500,000 was anticipated. There was a notation that the selective routing went over budget. Also the deprecation may go down so the overall numbers will improve by the final audit. As stands the cash posted for the current year is still better then the last five years.

Old Business

• Communications System Upgrade Update

  • Keven spoke about the expected paperwork for the upgrades. Also 20 dishes are ready to ship out, but the issue was no room to house them. They have partnered with the Calhoun County Highway Department to store them. Also the Butler Building at the EMA will be used to store the radios. He also wanted to thank Station 3 of the Anniston Fire Department for offering space. The new system should sustain the county through the end of the decade. 

• MountOliveVFD/UserFees

  • The Mount Olive Board member who spoke stated that the 800 system is far superior to any system they have used previously.  and they would like to stay on the system. There are a few issues at play. The current board changes often so it is difficult to reach a conscious and have a steady budget. They are in debt for the radio system by $25,000. They don’t know if they can afford the current system moving forward, and they are working without a firehouse due to damage during the last tornado. The board was sympathetic and would like to work with Mount Olive, but they stressed they can’t give them a different per radio price than others are paying. The current radio fee is $34.14 a month per radio. Mount Olive currently has 16 radios. They reduced to that number to try to cut costs. This brings the annually fee to $6,554.88. The board proposed that if Mt. Olive could pay that by March 2022 they could stay on the current system. They also needed to bring a proposal for paying off the past due amount. The board also stressed the importance of communication and keeping the board informed as to what was happening. 

• Ambulance RFP / Tabled 09-23-2021 – Unanimously Approved to table

  • It was noted that wall times are up at RMC and this has caused some diversion from RMC. It was also noted that a third COVID unit was being opened. The biggest concern is the Federal Healthcare Mandate that requires vaccinations. This mandate was upheld by the Supreme Court and will impact the number of available EMS workers in the area. Because of this the RFP was tabled for 3 months 

New Business

• County Road Naming Policy / Revisions

  • Gloria Floyd, the county attorney has not been able to present to the commission for approval. This matter will be presented at the next Commission meeting. 
• Allow Chairman to sign an Engagement Letter with the Auditor – Unanimously Approved
  • Joe Pentacost will be hired to do the audit. 

• Board Chairman / Director Comments

  • Kevin shared that there was a slight increase in calls from 2020. There were roughly 3000 more calls made in 2021. Sheriff Wade shared that for the County alone, not including individual municipalities, there were 104,898 calls with 12,000 dispatches in 2021.
  • Chairman Sparks noted that four board positions would be expiring in March. His own seat, Sheriff Wade’s, Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Reeves will also expire on March 1st. 

• Board Member Comments – No Comments