The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By David Grimes, Quill Correspondent
Henderson County expects to be in compliance with federal law with respect to being prepared for a new approach to 911 service by this September, but the decision regarding what equipment the county will secure to do that will depend on what the county board's jail committee recommends.
That was the board's decision following a presentation by Brandt Whitehead of Nelson Systems, a continuous recording specialist who explained the benefits of using a recording system backed up with a 2500-hour capacity hard drive.
Referring to Tom Rudolph, a sales engineer from Replay Systems, a group based in Florida, and his presentation to the board at their June meeting, Whitehead said, "I don't feel we're comparing apples to apples. The infrastructure is different."
The system offered by Replay does not offer a hard drive back up and has no service technicians based locally. Nelson has a technician based in East Galesburg.
Whitehead offered the board a letter of recommendation written by Warren County 911 coordinator Ed Chewning.
The Nelson unit additionally offers front panel access and carries a one-year parts and service warranty with additional coverage available for purchase.
The company also offers remote diagnostic repair as well as locally based service technicians.
"It only takes one incident, with respect to a liability issue, to end up costing the county millions," Whitehead said of potential glitches in a 911 system.
He said he estimated that his company handles an average of one reported problem with the system per year.
In other business, animal control committee chairman George Torrance said the deadline for tagging animals in the county has been shortened by 45 days, from April 1 to February 15.
"They're due January 1," Torrance said, adding that even with the final date being April 1, some owners are still slow to secure their tags.
Dog owners who continue to shun their responsibility past February 15 will be turned over for collection.
Board members also accepted a bid of $25,334 from Mark Muhleman for installing reinforced vinyl windows at the courthouse, but will wait until state grant money is received, probably around September 1, Randy Keever said in his building and grounds committee report.
Michael Thompson was sworn in as a board member by County Clerk Marcella Cisna. Thompson, a Democrat, will complete the unexpired term of the late Paul Allen.
Republican Al Renken, Stronghurst, was approved by the board to complete the unexpired term of the late Leanne Sargeant. Renken will be sworn in as a member of the board in September.
Stevenson was absent.
The board will next meet at the courthouse September 10.