Utah Tech Roundup

Salt Lake City – AIRDESK SOLUTIONS launched AirDesk Presenter, a new iPad app that transforms how evidence is used and presented in a courtroom trial. AirDesk Presenter was developed to simplify trial document management and enhance courtroom presentations. Images and documents can be uploaded to an iPad directly or remotely, and exhibits can be organized by order and priority.

Salt Lake City – SORENSON MEDIA launched a new product, Squeeze 360, which is an end-to-end video platform for broadcasters that will enable encoding, storage, streaming and play-out across all connected devices.  Squeeze 360 is a turnkey video publishing service that enables local broadcasters to integrate live feed and library content into an over the top (OTT) live stream or video on demand (VOD) service. “Squeeze 360 heralds the next step in our evolution as a company as we expand into the world of broadcast television,” says Marcus Liassides, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. “We’re seeing some significant shifts in consumer viewing habits and the devices they use to view content. Squeeze 360 as well as other upcoming Sorenson products will assist broadcasters in their efforts to adapt and thrive in this dynamic and evolving digital age.”

Salt Lake City - TRITEL NETWORKS, INC. launched a cloud-based file syncing and storage program in order to enhance business productivity for their small to medium-sized customers. This program's overarching goal is to streamline daily operations for their customers and enable businesses to collaborate, share and securely backup business critical files.

Salt Lake City – UNIVERSITY OF UTAH engineers developed a polarizing filter that allows in more light, leading the way for mobile device displays that last much longer on a single battery charge and cameras that can shoot in dim light. The study was funded by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and the UTAH SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH economic development initiative (USTAR). The paper was co-authored by U electrical engineering graduate student Bing Shen, along with graduate student Peng Wang and Utah Nanofab senior optical engineer Randy Polson.

West Valley City – Forty-five public safety agencies purchased software from SPILLMAN TECHNOLOGIES for the first time during the third quarter of 2014, joining the more than 1,200 agencies of all sizes in 40 states nationwide already using Spillman software. In addition to the new agencies, 69 agencies expanded their existing Spillman systems.

Farmington – PLURALSIGHT acquired Boston-based Smarterer, a skills assessment company, for $75 million. Smarterer assessments enable individuals and enterprises to close the gap between skills they have and skills they need by utilizing crowdsourcing and a proprietary dynamic assessment engine that can validate anyone's skill in as few as 10 questions and 120 seconds. Smarterer will continue to operate as an autonomous but aligned company.

Draper – Business management platform provider Connectwise and backup and disaster recovery solution provider STORAGECRAFT TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION announced the availability of an integration module. Through the integration module, managed service providers (MSPs) now have the ability to easily automate billing processes by mapping and synchronizing data from the StorageCraft MSP portal and StorageCraft Cloud Services with their Connectwise business management platform. 

- See more at: http://www.utahbusiness.com/articles/view/utah_tech_roundup#sthash.FEan6plb.dpuf

Posted: Friday, November 28, 2014 9:43 am

Claremore PD receives new patrol vehicles

By MARK FRIEDEL mfriedel@claremoreprogress.com

E911 software upgrade now under way

By SALESHA WILKEN STAFF REPORTER

An effort to upgrade services provided by the Rogers County E911 Center is under way.

The Rogers County Commissioners on Monday finalized the purchase of computer aided dispatch software in an effort to enhance public safety.

The $490,000 software package will aid dispatchers by tracking officers and communicating information directly to emergency responders in the field.

The Spillman software system is used by more than 1,200 agencies nationwide, including the City of Claremore.

The county is purchasing the program through a lease option and will pay approximately $92,000 annually for seven years.

The county cannot legally bind itself beyond the current fiscal year. The commissioners will need to renew the contract every July, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Charles Rogers.

After initially reviewing the contract, county officials required a few modifications to the document, which delayed the board’s authorization.

Commissioner Mike Helm and E911 Director Janet Hamilton voiced concerns Monday about the autonomy of the system.

Hamilton referenced pending litigation filed against the county and voiced her concern the legal battle would create tension between the city and county.

The city has filed a tort claim against the county stating that a verbal agreement to help widen King Road was voided.

Hamilton also shared her concerns about how the software would interface with the city network.

Undersheriff Jon Sappington said a fiberoptic connection would interface the E911 Center with the system operated by the Claremore Police Department.

By connecting the system, the two agencies will have the ability to share information while creating a system backup.

Helm questioned the funding source for the project as he worked to insure Hamilton was in support of the contract.

E911 funding will pay the bulk of the purchase with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office picking up a fraction of the annual fee.

Read the full story here: http://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/e-software-upgrade-now-under-way/article_9f3661e4-8aaf-11e4-ac42-bf6763bd35ef.html 

New emergency dispatch system harnesses mobile tech

Read the original article here

By Michael Hall

Monmouth County shares new model for public safety systems 

By John Moore

Jun 20, 2014

Read the article on GCN here. 

The recently launched $23.2 million Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Center was built with technology consolidation – and cost conservation – top of mind. 

The center, which officially opened April 29, offers 911, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and other emergency systems on a shared-service basis to dozens of municipalities, police departments and fire departments across the county. Its reach also extends beyond public safety systems: local government agencies can also avail themselves of backup and recovery systems.  

Shaun Golden, Monmouth County’s sheriff, said the center is the largest such facility in New Jersey. It has enough capacity to support all 53 municipalities in the county and was designed to accommodate 35 percent population growth. Monmouth has a population of 629,384, according to the 2012 census. 

The center is the latest illustration of a new model in public safety networks. Jurisdictions that can scale their IT systems offer a technical and financial solution for communities that can’t afford to maintain their own, redundant services.

Monmouth’s Public Safety Center uses a hub and spoke network topology to provide shared services. The network hub, which resides at the center, uses Cisco Systems switches and firewalls. Golden said 138 virtual private network tunnels link remote agencies to the network core and the center’s centralized resources. 

The center offers its resources on a fee-for-service basis. Customers pay a monthly charge, which covers maintenance services and 24/7 help desk access. The level of support is tiered, with different fees applying to different service levels. 

When a shared services arrangement is negotiated with a town, Monmouth sends out radio systems and IT technicians to evaluate the jurisdiction’s equipment needs and to assess what changes need to take place before implementation, Golden said. For example, some public safety agencies operate antiquated base stations that must be converted because they won’t work with the county’s software. 

The case for consolidation

The opening of the new 45,000 square foot center – 10 times the size of the county’s previous public safety facility – intersects with some of local governments’ critical needs.

Budget-conscious agencies, questioning the efficiency of maintaining their own systems when similar services might be available just across the county line, are looking to economize on IT and communications. 

Monmouth’s public safety center provides such jurisdictions a range of solutions to tap into, including CAD and records management systems from Spillman Technologies, a 700 MHz Motorola trunk radio system and EMC storage. 

For small nearby towns and jurisdictions, those technologies are otherwise out of reach, both physically and financially. “The main focus was shared services and consolidation,” Golden said of the center. 

Golden noted that none of the county’s local police departments have more than 90 officers and some employ only seven or eight. Shared services has become a compelling option for cash-strapped agencies attempting to juggle technologies as varied as CAD and records management on a limited budget.  

Plus, times have been tough since the economic downturn began in 2007. “We have seen what it does to municipalities, county and state budgets” Golden said. 

Lately however, local governments have begun accelerating their transition to shared IT resources, and are starting to see tangible results. According to Golden, 27 police departments and more than 70 fire and emergency medical services departments now take advantage of the shared infrastructure.

It’s no wonder sharing and consolidation is trending. The proof is in the bottom line.  “Generally, they are seeing savings of about 50 to 70 percent savings,” Golden said. What’s more, for Monmouth, fees generated via shared services will amount to more than $4 million annually, which will provide for a payback period of less than 10 years.

Jefferson Police to Start Aided Dispatch

By Chelsea DeMello

See the original article here: 

RANSON– Beginning this fall, Jefferson County police and emergency officials will be up to speed in the digital realm of information sharing with the implementation of the new Computer-Aided Dispatch system.

CAD, as it is known, will be a way of computerizing law enforcement and emergency records, and provide personnel with access to mobile data to streamline dispatch location and events, according to Jeff Polczynski, director of Jefferson County emergency communications.

Polczynski said it is a tool to create efficiency and develop a better work flow between the different law enforcement and emergency agencies within the county.

“It will be a way to bring everyone on the same page,” Polczynski said.

For instance, instead of having to repeat vehicle or driver details over the radio, the information is stored and updated within the system, Charles Town police chief Chris Kutcher said.

However, instead of eliminating radio dispatch, the system is intended to be a supplemental record-sharing database.

Another component of the system is the capability to pinpoint problem areas.

According to Kutch, the current method of tracking trends is by the use of spreadsheets.

“Right now we are very manual in the way we gather information,” Kutcher said.

 CAD records activity and trends to create “heat maps” so the appropriate personnel can be placed into those areas, Kutcher said.

The CAD system was purchased from Spillman Technologies, a public safety software company based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In addition, the cost for the CAD system is estimated at more than $1 million, with funding provided through a combination of grant and allocation money.

According to Pete Dougherty, Jefferson County sheriff, the state funded a grant of $230,000 to purchase 85 tablets, which is a component of the mobile data feature of the system.

The state issued the grant after the sheriff’s department sent a proposal stating the money would be used to “tie all of the Jefferson County information systems together,” Dougherty said.

According to Polczynski, the Jefferson County Commission allocated $800,000 in capital improvement funds to provide the software and hardware for the communication center and sheriff’s office.

In order to purchase the equipment, each agency within the county setup contracts totaling $114,200 with Spillman Technologies, Polczynski said.

While the system is not projected to go live until this fall, training has already begun.

More than 73 officers from each municipality, including the sheriff’s department, will be using the system.

Polczynski estimated that personnel undergo between 12 to 24 hours of training, which includes computer and mobile devices along with practical application.

More information about the CAD system is set to be available closer to its implementation date this fall.

-Staff writer Chelsea DeMello can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 215, or twitter.com/cdemelloJN.

Several Vendors Demonstrate Products at APCO (8/4/14)
Several vendors will demonstrate products and systems at the annual Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, Aug. 4 – 6.

Motorola Solutions will highlight its safer cities and thriving communities message with several demonstrations at its booth at APCO. The company will showcase its new ASTRO Project 25 (P25) network, version 7.15, with new data and situational awareness features. The company will also demonstrate the Wave product, which allows users to extend their P25 networks to devices such as smartphones, tablets and PCs. Motorola purchased Twisted Pair and the Wave product in January.

Motorola will also have a 700 MHz public-safety broadband band 14 deployable trailer at the show. The trailer can be hitched to the back of a truck and provide a private Long Term Evolution (LTE) band 14 network where there is no infrastructure. The company will also display the VML750 band 14 vehicle modem, a rugged device that seamlessly connects to band 14 or band 13 Verizon Wireless LTE networks.

In addition to the Twisted Pair acquisition, Motorola invested in Recon Instruments, which has a product called Jet, similar to Google Glass. When a user presses an emergency button on a radio, that information with a map of the user’s location is transferred to the glasses, for example.

The manufacturer will have a theater in the center of its booth where it will show how all the information in an intelligent data portal works together. Multiple screens will display information from an incident commander’s viewpoint, a crime center operator’s perspective and from a 9-1-1 dispatcher’s view.

Zetron will demonstrate its Pathway Project 25 (P25) Digital Fixed Station Interface (DFSI) gateway. Live Zetron Advanced Communications (AcomEVO) and MAX Dispatch console systems will demonstrate how multiple systems can use the Pathway device to connect to a single open-standards-based DFSI base station. Pathway supports up to four systems. In addition, because the gateway works with any manufacturer’s dispatch console that is P25 DFSI-compliant, it can be used with Zetron and non-Zetron solutions.

Icom America will show interoperable radio solutions at its booth with its complete P25 end-to-end systems and subscriber units, including the FR9010 series digital repeater, the F9011 series handheld and the F9511 series mobile. The subscriber units operate multimode P25 trunking, P25 conventional and analog. Additionally, the F9011 series and F9511 series are certified under the P25 Compliance Assessment Program (CAP). The company will also be showcasing the Icom Digital Advanced System (IDAS), which offers 6.25-kilohertz efficiency technology and features 15-bit digital encryption, flexible installation and advanced digital features.

TriTech Software Systems will demonstrate its Inform Suite, an enterprise-wide technology solution encompassing the entire public-safety workflow. TriTech’s Inform 911 and unified CAD+911 solution address challenges of integrating video, text and social media by providing a seamless and intuitive way for communication professionals to manage, prioritize and interact with new types of data. The APCO demonstration will showcase the company’s entire portfolio of Inform applications, including 911, CAD+911 unified solution, mobile, field reporting, records management, jail and TriTech.com IQ, a cloud-based search and analytics suite.

Spillman Technologies will host custom demonstrations of its integrated CAD, records management system (RMS) and mobile communication software, along with more than 40 other modules at the conference.

The CAD system will feature mapping software integrated with ESRI to track the location of incidents and units, customizable screen configurations and the ability to dispatch from the command line as well as real-time integration with Spillman’s mobile and records management solutions, and advanced searching and reporting capabilities. Other demonstrations will include the CAD Management Dashboard, the Spillman Touch module, Spillman Mobile as well as Citadex, Spillman’s new Web-based CAD, RMS and jail management product.

TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) is teaming with NextNav to demonstrate the use of Metropolitan Beacon System (MBS) technology as a solution to complement primary 9-1-1 technology for the purpose of providing indoor location information to public-safety answering points (PSAPs) in emergency situations. Using NextNav’s MBS network for positioning, the companies are demonstrating provision of an indoor caller's location information to 9-1-1 call-takers. When an appropriately configured cell phone or other device places a 9-1-1 call from a community with a deployed MBS network, the caller's longitude, latitude and altitude are displayed to the 9-1-1 call-taker.

Tait Communications will demonstrate its Unified Voice system, and Tait-endorsed technology partners Avtec, Zetron and Cisco will also be at the exhibition showing their interoperability with Tait. Avtec’s Scout dispatch console is interoperability certified with Tait’s Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) and P25 networks. Zetron will showcase the Acom console, which is also now certified on both DMR and P25 networks with Tait. And Cisco’s IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) will be demonstrated alongside Tait’s Unified Voice solution.

“As part of our vision to unify critical communications for public safety and emergency services agencies, Tait guarantees that our products are open-standards-based and undertakes formal interoperability certification with our partners to give you the assurance that we mean what we say,” said Tait Solutions Marketing Manager Russell Watson. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a Tait radio operating on a Cassidian network or an Avtec console on a Tait network, the end user experience is seamless.”

Catalyst Communications Technologies is demonstrating Release 6.04 of its products with Malleable Processing technology. The version allows creation of dispatch, interoperability and incident command solutions that can be redistributed across multiple processors to meet evolving requirements. Small systems can be run on a single processor or be distributed across multiple processors in multiple locations across standard IP networks, allowing resources to be reallocated as needed.

Your comments are welcome, click here

Spillman Technologies and the West Valley City Fire Department participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge on August 21, 2014. KUTV News was there to capture the story!

Original article found here: http://www.al.com/news/anniston-gadsden/index.ssf/2014/08/calhoun_countys_new_911_dispat.html

ANNISTON, Alabama -- Calhoun County should have a new 911 dispatching system with real-time information that is expected to go online in late 2015.

On Friday, the county's 911 board of commissioners approved a $446,000 agreement with Spillman Technologies to buy a computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, system. The costs will pay for mapping and mobile software.

Officials say the new system will shave a great deal of time off emergency responses, delivering faster notifications to emergency responders and increasing the accuracy of information.

Using a county-wide CAD has been something discussed for the past four years. A 12-member committee of police, fire and first responders made the recommendation to go with the Spillman contract. It is the same company used by several Alabama public safety agencies, including Tuscaloosa Police and Fire and the University of Alabama Police.

Calhoun County 911 Director Kevin Jenkins said in a news release Spillman stood out from other companies.

"Calhoun County needed a software partner that will unite our agencies on a common platform for information sharing and Spillman has proven success with multi-jurisdictional deployments, having done it hundreds of times over the past 30 years and never failing a new software implementation," Jenkins said.

Watch the full video here: 

http://www.tv24.tv/#!Calhoun-County-911-Purchases-Public-Safety-Software/c1tj5/1B35E155-4058-4048-BA8B-3E0595FD038A

A world leader in emergency information processing and data sharing revolutionizes the handling of emergency data and information in Calhoun County.

The Calhoun County 9-1-1 Board of Commissioners agrees to partner with Spillman Technologies in a unanimous decision at last Friday’s board meeting to purchase their Computer-Aided Dispatch, Mapping and Mobile software solution at a cost of $446,000.  It is a public safety software solution for Calhoun County.  Critical Emergency Information will be provided to first responders in real-time. The decision to acquire Spillman’s Integrated Public Safety Software has been in the making since 2010.   Calhoun County 9-1-1’s new system is expected to take more than a year to implement, and is expected to go online in late 2015.

By Brent Brown Daily News  

For the full article, Click here

GREENSBURG – The first glimpse of a new data compiling system intended to streamline the process of and maximize efficiency in local emergency responses was given to a group of public safety workers Tuesday morning.

Anticipated to officially launch on or around July 1, 2015, the county’s new initiative is a computer aided dispatch system aimed at improving communication among emergency responders. Eighteen months in the making, the new project will be paid for through $686,000 in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds garnered from Honda and awarded by the Decatur County Redevelopment Commission.

Spillman Technologies, Inc. is providing the software for the effort, and representatives of that company met with the project team at the Decatur County Emergency Management Agency’s (EMA) Emergency Operations Center Tuesday to brief that group on what to expect with its implementation, now and in the future.

The long-term future of emergency response communication in Decatur County was the effort’s focus.

EMA Director Rob Duckworth said the new software effectively lays the groundwork for emergency response communication locally for the next quarter-century, improving communication among agencies and allowing for a much more elaborate database.

Decatur County Sheriff Greg Allen said the computer aided dispatch system will allow emergency responders from any agency access to all available information when responding to a 911 call.

He used an example of a residence to which police have responded for multiple domestic disputes. Such information would be searchable by police, emergency medical staff, or any other agency responding to the call. Additionally, the system can be used to equal effect in responding to medical emergencies. The database will include a history of the calls from particular residences, thereby enabling medical professionals to more effectively treat patients in an emergency.

The sheriff said the current system has no such structure, and communication with other departments is cumbersome. As it stands currently, officers in the field must wait for dispatchers to relay information to another agency, who in turn must wait for a response from that agency. Those steps are cut out of the equation due to the new system, freeing up dispatchers and allowing officers to collect important data much more quickly.

Duckworth said each squad car for the Sheriff’s Department and the Greensburg Police Department is currently equipped with a laptop computer, and information about each 911 call can be viewed by law enforcement personnel in that way once the new system goes live.

“I think it’s going to make us a lot more efficient,” Allen said. “Having access to that info also helps with officer safety.”

Both Duckworth and the sheriff agreed that one of the major roadblocks to getting the project underway was finding a way to fund it without using the county’s tax dollars.

Decatur County Redevelopment Commission President Mike Walker said Duckworth and Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen did much of the background work and research for the effort and gained Honda’s support by sitting in on meetings and having a clear plan for implementation.

The effort took more than a year to get off the ground, but all involved anticipate positive dividends.

Chasteen said having a project to present to the Redevelopment Commission that, for all intents and purposes, was “shovel ready” went a long way in getting approval. 

“We’re just very appreciative to [the Redevelopment Commission and Honda] for providing us with the funds to move forward with this project,” Chief Chasteen said.

The fire chief described the effort as “an information management system” and said it would aid his crews in a number of ways.

“It can help us decide if we need to call in mutual aid, if we need an ambulance,” Chasteen said. “In our job, the more information we can have upon responding [to an emergency situation] is vital to us.”

Duckworth said the system will also allow for free updated software so long as it’s maintained.

Both Chasteen and Duckworth told the Daily News the information will aid the EMA in pre-planning for potential disasters, hopefully making emergency responses in those situations all that more efficient.

Beyond law enforcement and medical professionals, other local agencies are expected to benefit from the data collecting capabilities of the new system.

A positive byproduct of the effort, Duckworth said, is the availability of data that will help local nonprofits compile important information when seeking grants.

“This will affect grant-funding for other agencies,” the EMA director said. “They’ll have good data to show their needs.”

Sheriff Allen said attempts to cull data now are laborious in comparison to how things are expected to run with the information sharing system is put into place next year.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing,” Allen said. “It’s long overdue.”

2014 IACP Hot Products

Winners will be featured in November/December issue of Law Officer

Click here to read the full article on LawOfficer.com

November 11, 2014

Utah Tech Roundup

Salt Lake City – AIRDESK SOLUTIONS launched AirDesk Presenter, a new iPad app that transforms how evidence is used and presented in a courtroom trial. AirDesk Presenter was developed to simplify trial document management and enhance courtroom presentations. Images and documents can be uploaded to an iPad directly or remotely, and exhibits can be organized by order and priority.

Salt Lake City – SORENSON MEDIA launched a new product, Squeeze 360, which is an end-to-end video platform for broadcasters that will enable encoding, storage, streaming and play-out across all connected devices.  Squeeze 360 is a turnkey video publishing service that enables local broadcasters to integrate live feed and library content into an over the top (OTT) live stream or video on demand (VOD) service. “Squeeze 360 heralds the next step in our evolution as a company as we expand into the world of broadcast television,” says Marcus Liassides, president and CEO of Sorenson Media. “We’re seeing some significant shifts in consumer viewing habits and the devices they use to view content. Squeeze 360 as well as other upcoming Sorenson products will assist broadcasters in their efforts to adapt and thrive in this dynamic and evolving digital age.”

Salt Lake City - TRITEL NETWORKS, INC. launched a cloud-based file syncing and storage program in order to enhance business productivity for their small to medium-sized customers. This program's overarching goal is to streamline daily operations for their customers and enable businesses to collaborate, share and securely backup business critical files.

Salt Lake City – UNIVERSITY OF UTAH engineers developed a polarizing filter that allows in more light, leading the way for mobile device displays that last much longer on a single battery charge and cameras that can shoot in dim light. The study was funded by NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy and the UTAH SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH economic development initiative (USTAR). The paper was co-authored by U electrical engineering graduate student Bing Shen, along with graduate student Peng Wang and Utah Nanofab senior optical engineer Randy Polson.

West Valley City – Forty-five public safety agencies purchased software from SPILLMAN TECHNOLOGIES for the first time during the third quarter of 2014, joining the more than 1,200 agencies of all sizes in 40 states nationwide already using Spillman software. In addition to the new agencies, 69 agencies expanded their existing Spillman systems.

Farmington – PLURALSIGHT acquired Boston-based Smarterer, a skills assessment company, for $75 million. Smarterer assessments enable individuals and enterprises to close the gap between skills they have and skills they need by utilizing crowdsourcing and a proprietary dynamic assessment engine that can validate anyone's skill in as few as 10 questions and 120 seconds. Smarterer will continue to operate as an autonomous but aligned company.

Draper – Business management platform provider Connectwise and backup and disaster recovery solution provider STORAGECRAFT TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION announced the availability of an integration module. Through the integration module, managed service providers (MSPs) now have the ability to easily automate billing processes by mapping and synchronizing data from the StorageCraft MSP portal and StorageCraft Cloud Services with their Connectwise business management platform. 

- See more at: http://www.utahbusiness.com/articles/view/utah_tech_roundup#sthash.FEan6plb.dpuf

Posted: Friday, November 28, 2014 9:43 am

Claremore PD receives new patrol vehicles

By MARK FRIEDEL mfriedel@claremoreprogress.com

E911 software upgrade now under way

By SALESHA WILKEN STAFF REPORTER

An effort to upgrade services provided by the Rogers County E911 Center is under way.

The Rogers County Commissioners on Monday finalized the purchase of computer aided dispatch software in an effort to enhance public safety.

The $490,000 software package will aid dispatchers by tracking officers and communicating information directly to emergency responders in the field.

The Spillman software system is used by more than 1,200 agencies nationwide, including the City of Claremore.

The county is purchasing the program through a lease option and will pay approximately $92,000 annually for seven years.

The county cannot legally bind itself beyond the current fiscal year. The commissioners will need to renew the contract every July, according to Senior Assistant Attorney General Charles Rogers.

After initially reviewing the contract, county officials required a few modifications to the document, which delayed the board’s authorization.

Commissioner Mike Helm and E911 Director Janet Hamilton voiced concerns Monday about the autonomy of the system.

Hamilton referenced pending litigation filed against the county and voiced her concern the legal battle would create tension between the city and county.

The city has filed a tort claim against the county stating that a verbal agreement to help widen King Road was voided.

Hamilton also shared her concerns about how the software would interface with the city network.

Undersheriff Jon Sappington said a fiberoptic connection would interface the E911 Center with the system operated by the Claremore Police Department.

By connecting the system, the two agencies will have the ability to share information while creating a system backup.

Helm questioned the funding source for the project as he worked to insure Hamilton was in support of the contract.

E911 funding will pay the bulk of the purchase with the Rogers County Sheriff’s Office picking up a fraction of the annual fee.

Read the full story here: http://www.claremoreprogress.com/news/e-software-upgrade-now-under-way/article_9f3661e4-8aaf-11e4-ac42-bf6763bd35ef.html