We call 911 when we have an emergency So when 911 has an emergency, who do they call?

Does our Lewis County 911 center have an emergency? I believe they do, it is called funding. Currently funding for the center is achieved mainly through fees paid by the various agencies that are dispatched by the center, our fire depts, local police, LSCO etc. Currently our center basically has the same radio capabilities, regarding radio transmission sites it had during the 80s when I was employed there. To say the 911 infrastructure is outdated is a huge understatement. This is mainly due to lack of funding.

Of course they could simply raise the users fees, FD, PD, LCSO, but which service would you like to delete from the users as they would have to cut something out of their budget to afford the increase, delete an officer, or decrease their fleet of emergency vehicles, stop responding to less than emergency calls, what would you like cut?

In November, on our ballot, our county commissioners are asking for a sales tax to help fund our 911 center. Now you are going to say "wait another tax!" Well yes it is a tax, on sales in Lewis County, .02 on every $10. Do we really need that?

In my humble opinion as a citizen, a taxpayer, a first responder, YES we do. This does two things.

First, this will provide a funding source to bring our center up to date with regards to their infrastructure.

Second, people passing through our county, visiting and shopping in Lewis County obviously can use our 911 center but contribute nothing to the system funding, so basically our property taxes, levies alone pay for these services, while they get it free, on the backs of property owners in the county. Our 911 center is in dire straits, their staffing is critically low, the equipment is in desperate need of upgrades and the infrastructure is horribly outdated and inadequate, we all need this to change. This proposed ballot measure will help this situation. Think of it this way, you call 911, and it rings and rings and rings, because the 911 staffing issue, or perhaps you call 911, you need the fire department right a way, the duty crew is out of the station or out of their vehicle and the 911 dispatcher can not reach them because our current radio transmission infrastructure is not capable of getting a signal to them, or perhaps you have a family member or friend that is a firefighter, on a active emergency call and is suddenly in grave danger, he/she needs immediate help from the dispatcher, but their radio can not effectively be used to call for help because our system is too old. Does that happen? Yes it does.

I have been there on both sides of the radio, as a dispatcher and as a first responder. Those who know me know I don't like that three letter word TAX. This tax however, I believe is vitally important and I will vote yes and encourage others to do the same, we need our 911 center to be staffed, fully updated and supported. I am a combat veteran, among the military there is a saying, if you are in a battle, there is a triad, (triangle) you remove any side of the triangle, chances are you will not win the battle against an enemy. The triad "Shoot, Move, Communicate." When you call 911 there is a battle, your enemy is "Time." We need to Communicate with the 911 center or we lose "time," we lose the battle. Pass the ballot measure, don't remove the side of the triangle for Communicate, vote "yes" for this for all our sakes.