On July 29, citizens of Healdton will go to the polls to vote for or against participation in the countywide emergency 911 system.
If they vote yes, a 2 percent increase will be added to the current 911 tax that is being collected each month on their telephone bills, according to Shelly Stahlbusch, Carter County E911 coordinator.
On a residential line, the increase would amount to 19 cents per month or $2.28 per year. For a business phone, this fee will be an increase of 42 cents per month or $5.04 per year, Stahlbusch said.
“If citizens of Healdton vote to be a part of the county system, the city will not lose its own dispatch at City Hall,” Stahlbusch said. “Becoming a part of the countywide E911 system has never required any city or town to give up their own dispatch center. Healdton’s dispatch would no longer directly receive incoming 911 calls from land lines or cell phones.”
Healdton City Councilman Rick Pender said he believes some people think the emergency system won’t work as well without local people operating the 911 service.
“My stand on it is, the old 911 equipment that we’ve got is some of the very first that was set in the county,” Pender said. “It’s old and it’s basically obsolete. The stuff that the county’s got over there now is way more updated and more sophisticated.”
Some Healdton citizens have expressed concerns that their address or street name may change.
Some of the street names and house numbers will change with the countywide E911 system, according to Pender.
“With Highway 76 coming through on the southeast corner of town, then it turns and goes west down Main Street, the dividing line on your side streets is First Street,” Pender said. “So when you come in on the highway — just like Lincoln Street which turns and goes to the hospital — if you turn to the west, you are still on East Lincoln.”
This has created confusion for ambulance drivers who are not familiar with the area, when just a few minutes time is crucial for an injured or ailing citizen.
“We’ve had a couple of incidents where the ambulance people were confused,” Pender said. “They come in from Ardmore and they come up the highway. They think that east is east of the highway. It’s actually about a half mile west, is where East Lincoln starts.”
Pender said he believes the overall response time and efficiency would be an improvement over the old system that is in place, and more apt to save lives. “The one time it saves one life, it’s worth the whole expense to everybody,” he said.
Sheila J. Robinson, 221-6536
sheila.robinson@ardmoreite.com
