Department of Agriculture (USDA)Community Facilities Community Facilities programs provide loans, grants, and loan guarantees for essential community facilities in rural areas and towns up to 20,000 in population. Priority is given to health care, education, and public safety projects. http://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/community-facilities-direct-loan-grant-programProgram Amount: Graduated Scale Application Deadline: Applications are accepted year-round. Contact local office to discuss a specific project Competitive: Applicants will be carefully scored and prioritized to determine which projects should be selected for further development and funding; varying match requirements Eligible Applicants: Municipalities, counties, parishes, boroughs, special-purpose districts, non-profit corporations or associations, and Tribal governments Objective: Funds the purchase, construction, or improvement of essential community facilities Planning and Organization: Costs of acquiring interest on land Equipment: Construction and development of hospitals, health clinics, schools, fire houses, community centers, and many other community-based initiatives NOFO Language: Essential community facilities include public safety services such as fire departments, police stations, prisons, police vehicles, fire trucks, public works vehicles or equipment. Interpretation: While NG911 is not specifically mentioned, Community Facilities recipients should consider integrating NG911 implementation into planning related to public safety services, vehicles, or equipment…
BENTON — Marshall County Fiscal Court took a recess during its recent meeting to tour the E911 facility. Director Chris Freeman welcomed the court, along with many others, and gave a presentation on how it would greatly benefit Marshall County’s emergency infrastructure.
Freeman went over many positive aspects of the controversial facility, which he purports will solve many, if not all, of Marshall County’s emergency communications issues. Throughout the presentation, he said the 911 center goes beyond a regular dispatch center, and is a “game changer.”
“Again, this is not a dispatch center, it’s not a 911 center. It’s an emergency communications center, with hopes of regionalization in the future,” Freeman said…
The Ten-Year Plan was developed in partnership with CTC Energy and Technology and Rural Innovations Strategies, Inc.
The 365-page Plan provides an overview of the current state of telecommunications services and facilities in the state, current trends in usage and adoption, and recommendations for improving access to broadband services throughout Vermont.
Specifically, the plan provides a roadmap to achieving the state’s most pressing telecommunications and broadband goals, including:
Bringing every currently unserved and underserved on-grid Vermont home access to 100/100 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband that can be scalable to faster speeds as demand warrants;
Leveraging residential fiber deployments into better mobile voice coverage along key roadways and in small communities;
Ensuring that telecommunications systems are resilient, redundant, secure, and future-proof for commercial, consumer, and public safety needs…
BELLEFONTE — Some Centre County employees will see more money in their paychecks very soon.
During Thursday’s salary board meeting, the board approved a $5 per hour pay hike for Centre County workers at both the Emergency Communications Center and the Centre County Correctional Facility.
The commissioners said on Tuesday that the situation was dire. Citing low level staffing numbers at the county prison and the county 911 center, county administrators approved the pay hike with hopes that the new incentive will retain current employees while and get new hires on board quickly. Needless to say, both the Emergency Communications Center and the Centre County Correctional Facility need staffing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year…
ST. LOUIS — On a recent afternoon, just two dispatchers were tasked with answering all St. Louis 911 and nonemergency police calls for their full eight-hour shifts.
The 911 wait time about 3:30 p.m. that day was eight minutes, with the longest hold time glaring at the dispatchers under a red line on their computer screens.
Waiting callers got the same message on repeat: “You have reached the 911 center for the city of St. Louis. All operators are busy at this time. Please do not hang up. Your call will be answered in the order received.”
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
