Edmonson Fiscal Court approves $130K ARPA funds to update dispatch technology
BROWNSVILLE, Ky. – Recently, Edmonson County Fiscal Court unanimously voted to allocate $130,000 of ARPA funding toward a new county dispatch system.
Edmonson County dispatchers receive both 911 and non-emergency calls for multiple organizations. They estimate answering between 30 to 70 calls in one day.
With their current outdated tech, dispatchers navigate throughout the building to answer different communication lines, meaning callers sometimes face longer hold time.
Dispatch Director Rigdon says dispatch needs newer touchscreen equipment to centralize their calls, thus speeding up reply times.
“We dispatch for all the agencies in our county,” explained Rigdon. “We have two law enforcement, one EMS, Mammoth Cave National Park Rangers transport, and then our volunteer fire departments.”
When Rigdon brought the concern to Fiscal Court, Judge Executive Wil Cannon advocated for the court’s unanimous yes vote.
“It could mean a person’s life. So, the fiscal court was happy to allocate the $130,000 to try to buy this new console equipment so that the dispatchers can do their jobs more efficiently,” Cannon said.
Edmonson Dispatch will use the 130K ARPA funding to bid on newer headsets and on touchscreen dispatch units – newer additions that will consolidate the spread-out calls, expected to cause much faster response times.
Rigdon concluded, “Although we are still a small town, we do want to stay up with modernizing our equipment just to be able to help our community.”
Ridgon says they hope to see the new dispatch unit equipment in the next few months.
Gloss