NorthwestFebruary 13, 2004

Group decides no further steps will be taken until seventh member chosen

Dean Ferguson

The E-911 Joint Powers Board got off to a false start Thursday afternoon. After six years of planning and wrangling between Nez Perce County and the city of Lewiston, the first meeting ended after only 20 minutes with a decision not to make any decisions until a seventh board member is chosen.

The group will ask the Port of Lewiston to recommend seven candidates for the position. Any person filling the position must meet the unanimous approval of the six other members.

Once there are seven members, the board will oversee operation of the county's Enhanced 911 system.

E-911 is a computer that routes emergency calls to the geographically appropriate agency. The system also alerts dispatchers to where calls are coming from if the caller cannot speak or doesn't know the address.

The system was approved by voters in 1998 but has been slow to reach fruition because of issues such as waiting for the county to develop numbers for rural residences. The system is funded with a $1 monthly telephone service fee.

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Nez Perce County Commissioner J.R. Van Tassel, geographic information systems specialist William Reynolds and Sheriff Randy Kingsbury represent the county on the board. Lewiston police Capt. Allan Sharp, Lewiston police Communications Manager Cindy Felton and Councilwoman Carol Wallace represent the city.

When the board is up and going, one issue it will explore is finding ways of making cell phones compatible with the 911 tracking system, said Sharp.

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Ferguson may be contacted at dferguson@lmtribune.com

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