Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
IRON COUNTY Finance Committee members, from left, Jack Prospero, of Hurley; Opal Roberts, of Mercer, and Tom Innes, of Cedar, study proposals for enhanced 911 service to the county Thursday morning at the courthouse in Hurley.
HURLEY - The Iron County Finance Committee heard a presentation from CenturyLink Thursday regarding the county possibly upgrading to enhanced 911 services.
According Iron County Emergency Management director Stacy Ofstad, Iron County is the only county in Wisconsin without enhanced 911 services.
Enhanced services allow the dispatchers to gain more information from a phone call, versus asking questions of the person who has called. Using technology like pictometry and GPS, the moment a phone rings, dispatchers can know specifically where that call is coming from, including updated addresses.
In the past couple of years, Iron County updated its addresses using pictometry, allowing it to be a "perfect" candidate for enhanced 911.
Enhanced 911 also works with cell phones to get GPS information, something that could come in handy when dealing with all-terrain vehicle riders or snowmobilers on unfamiliar trails or travelers on highways who don't know where they are, specifically.
The information is only as good as the cell service, something that is lacking in parts of Iron County.
"We have big holes in this county, and how do we address that?" James Kichak, committee member and county board supervisor from Mercer, said.
Ofstad said the offer "is out there," with space available for rent for cell towers.
"However, you can't force them to come here," Ofstad said.
According to Mary Ehrsam, major account manager for CenturyLink, many people already believe that counties without enhanced services already have it.
The cost of enhanced 911 is around $150,000 for the equipment, plus future costs for the county to be a part of the enhanced 911 network. The network has calls transfered from a router in Rice Lake.
The network is funded by a 911 tariff from Wisconsin legislation, costing county residents with landlines, a maximum of $1 per month for services, however if funding is still leftafter each resident pays his share, the county must be responsible for the remainder.
With many people switching to cell phones in their homes, the cost average could be near the $1 mark, after dividing the total cost among all land-line customers.
Committee members asked why cell phone users did not have to pay for the network costs, and Ofstad said a bill is being worked on to change that in the Wisconsin legislature.
Sheriff Tony Furyk also questioned who would pay for calls coming from Michigan dispatchers to Iron County.
According to Ehrsam, situations similar to that are being worked on with Minnesota, but not Michigan yet. She said both Michigan and Minnesota have state-ran 911 agencies, while Wisconsin does not.
County clerk Mike Saari said the county can afford the $150,000 technology cost, but "didn't want to be surprised," by the network charges. He asked for examples from other cities.
Ehrsam said examples can vary depending on the population of a county, and how many of those residents use land-lines. It can be a "big unknown," she said.
The committee did not make a decision on the enhanced 911 services, and asked CenturyLink to provide more "concrete" figures.
