Senoia mayor Joan Trammell hopes that a short-term solution has finally been found to the ongoing feud between the city and the county over 911 service.

During Tuesday morning's Coweta County Commission meeting, the board approved a measure that would allow the county's 911 center to keep handling all the calls that come into it from the smaller municipalities, such as Senoia and Grantville.

But the county stipulated the deal will be off if the municipalities don't lower their non-emergency calls to the center to 40 percent of the total call volume.

Trammell said Police Chief Ben Thomas met with the officers earlier this week and is instructing them how to lower the call volume.

But even if the city complies with the county's request, Trammell realizes this is only a quick fix.

“We'll eventually have to do something to handle our own calls,” she said.

The debate started last summer when the county informed Senoia and Grantville they could no longer handle administrative calls, such as tag checks, because the call center was being overrun by non-emergency calls.

The city of Senoia looked at options, such as starting its own call center, but found the costs prohibitive.

In December, Senoia and Grantville asked the county for help until they could find a permanent solution.

One option Senoia officials are looking at is placing a computer in one of the patrol cars and making sure that car is always on patrol.

Trammell said the cost of an on-board computer is nearly $10,000 and Thomas is looking at possible grants to fund the expense.

In the meantime, the county will continue to handle the administrative calls until they're more than 40 percent of the total calls.

When that happens, said Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter, “We'll be back to square one.”

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