Revisions to the Livingston County Central Dispatch Enhanced 911 (E911) Service Plan will reflect technology changes, operations, and update current phone service providers.

The E911 plan gives Central Dispatch access to grant funding to operate the 911 Center, while allowing the County to collect surcharges from phone providers. Livingston County’s plan was last updated in 2001 and amended in 2003. In a memo to the County’s Board of Commissioners, Chewning stated that technology, system requirements for wireless and voice over internet protocol service, as well as operational processes, have progressed significantly since the update, and that a revised plan is needed as a result.

The first step in the process to revise the plan requires a resolution from the County’s Board of Commissioners approving the tentative document. The Board gave that approval at their meeting Monday.

Chewning says as technology changes in the 911 world, the new plan has been written to cover the next generation 911 equipment into the future. It also allows the County to continue to operate on the current plan and, as technology further evolves, officials can simply amend the latest version instead of having to re-open the plan and repeat the lengthy approval process.

Now with the Board’s approval, the tentative plan next moves to the County Clerk’s Office. Two public hearings on the matter will then be held before it goes back to the Board of Commissioners for final approval by resolution, and then sent to the State’s 911 office to be signed before going into effect. (DK)