The Texas County E-911 board took the first tentative steps toward improving the county's 911 equipment at Tuesday night's meeting at the Guymon Police Department.

After county voters approved a 50-cent surcharge on cell phone users to fund 911 system improvements, Guymon Police Chief Eddie Adamson began the search for the right company to provide the best deal to provide those improvements. Adamson said that a company called 911 Inc. gave what he thought was the best deal. The company submitted a bid, which is good until Oct. 5.

Chief Adamson said the equipment would be compatible with a map provided by Tri-County Electric, and would pinpoint where in Texas County a 911 call was being made from and the 911 dispatcher — located at the Guymon Police Department — could view that on a monitor. He said the equipment already comes with Global Positioning Capability, which means when other upgrades pertaining to cell phones (which were voted on in July) are made, 911 calls from cell phones will also be shown on the screen.

"We're able to do this and put in the mapping, using a map provided by Tri-County, would be perfectly fine for what we want," Adamson said. "The total cost is $121,469.78, that will put in the maps, positions, quick print, the quick clock, which is the Atomic Clock."

Adamson said there are several different options, and the system would be capable of adding on other services when and if the need arises.

"It has the potential, as we need it, to add more things, like the automatic vehicle locator," Adamson said.
The deal comes with technology refresh, which means when new technology develops, the company will automatically upgrade the equipment.

"This is one of the key things that I really think is going to be our option," Adamson said. "It's going to  cost us about $28,000 a year (to have the system), but (with) technology refresh, at the end of five years, we get everything new, without having to buy it all. They come in and refresh all the technology that's out there, which is a sustainability deal."

County commissioner Ted Keeling told the board that it can legally control the budget and make decisions to buy equipment as needed, which had been a question of some of the board members.
"I think we're going the right way," Keeling said.

The board called a special meeting for 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 to discuss and vote on purchasing the 911 upgrades.