April 8, 2009 — Two Bureau of Information Technology officials gave a positive review Wednesday on the state of a new 911 emergency-response system they say will be "live on St. Croix by June 25."
Residents can rest assured that the whole territory will be covered when the system is complete, said John George, director of the Bureau of Information Technology, speaking Wednesday night to a crowd of about 50 people in the St. Croix Educational Complex auditorium. He added that wherever a police officer is, "When they key up the radio, it will work."
Paul Arnold Jr., deputy director of the Bureau of Information Technology, said the system will be integrated to handle all calls of first responders: police officers, firemen and EMS workers. The system will include two new call centers, he said, one on St. Croix and one on St. Thomas. If one of the centers goes down, the remaining one will be able to handle the whole territory. The system will be secure so residents cannot listen into it on scanners.
George talked mostly about the system's towers, indicating the system will utilize 13 towers. Six towers already standing will remain in use, to be supplemented by seven more. The new towers on St. Croix would go on Kingshill, Burns Hill and in Cotton Valley. Existing towers are on Recovery Hill, Blue Mountain, Mt. Stewart and in St. Georges.
Two of the four residents who spoke at the meeting did not have anything positive to say about the project.
"You are spending millions of dollars of taxpayers' money that is not necessary, that could be better spent elsewhere," said Herb Schoenbohm, a communications engineer.
The exchange between George and Schoenbohm became heated at times.
"I am just trying to save taxpayers money," Schoenbohm said.
The government is doing everything possible to make the project happen in a timely fashion, George said.
Schoenbohm also questioned why the project was being handled by stateside firms instead of V.I. businesses. A request for bids was advertised and the best bidder was chosen, George said. Schoenbohm said he never saw the bids advertised.
The work going to outside firms also was the main complaint of Jacqueline Dennis, who identified herself as a local contractor who has worked on towers. She said she had proposals in to fix and put up towers the government owns, but the proposals "are just sitting on somebody's desk somewhere." She added that, based on what she heard George say, the government went to stateside firms out of expediency. George said that was not true.
Arnold told the attendees that all the dispatch staff members would be trained. Present dispatchers will be kept on as long as they meet training requirements by certain deadlines, he said. The government is looking to hire 24 people to man the call centers, and so far it has received 90 applications for the positions.
This hearing was the first of three planned. The hearing on St. Thomas is scheduled for April 14 in the American Legion Hall at Sub Base, and the St. John hearing will take place April 16 at St. Ursula's Episcopal Church. Both hearings will begin at 6:30 p.m.
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