Friday, October 8, 1999
Senoia could spend thousands of dollars for new radio system

By JOHN THOMPSON
Coweta Editor

Senoia residents learned Monday night it may soon cost the city more than $100,000 for radio dispatch service for the city's police officers to use.

The city recently learned Coweta County would no longer supply service for free and the city would have to find an alternative for the police force to phone in field reports.

It's not emergency phone calls to the county emergency 911 system that are the problem, said police chief Ben Thomas. It's all the radio calls generated from the officers, such as running tags and plugging into the GCIC computer, he said.

The city is left with two options. It can either contract with the county to provide the services or start up its own dispatch system, he added.

The county was originally scheduled to stop the service in July, but Mayor Joan Trammell said the city now has until January to figure out a solution.

Starting its own system might make sense, since the city could rotate officers to man the radio, she said.

Thomas is working with the city of Grantville, which also has to find a solution, to locate funding for the service.

In a letter to Sen. Paul Coverdell, Thomas estimated the cost of equipment and acquiring frequencies at $120,000.

If the city decided to contract the service from the county, Thomas said the cost would be $90,500, but there was no guarantee how long the county would supply the service. He added it would take seven employees to staff the center on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week schedule.

Councilman Robert Hannah asked if the city could possibly contract with the city of Newnan to provide the service, but Thomas said that is not feasible.

“They're on a different frequency. It would cause too many problems switching between frequencies for regular calls and getting other information,” he said.

Trammell asked the council to evaluate the problem and be ready to come to a solution before the end of the year.


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