News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Pickett County residents expressed their opinions on a proposed new E-911 district during a public meeting Friday.
The meeting was called by the State Emergency Communication Board to gather more information.
Local paramedic Bernie Copeland said nothing needs changing and that the current Overton-Pickett E-911 District is fine as it is.
“I just want to say, the Overton-Pickett 911 system is the best system I’ve been around so far,” Copeland said. “Right now, the system works great. I’ve worked in both counties, in Pickett and Overton. They dispatch the calls the same for both counties. I just think it’s a great system as we have it right now.”
Pickett County Resident Jeff Hensley agreed, saying he was “totally against” the idea of creating a new district.
“[The district] has been in Overton County for years. It’s run sufficiently, [and] it’s run effectively,” Hensley said. “If it don’t stink, don’t stir it. There’s no sense in having to pay more money to move everything up here. And to buy everything is just a burden on the county.”
ECB Executive Director Curtis Sutton and Attorney Benjamin Glover said the average initial cost of creating a new E-911 district is typically between $600,000 and $1 million.
Despite concerns, not all residents were against the proposal. Local resident Nancy Moon said she supports the idea of a new district.
“I think Pickett County could benefit from the 911 [service] coming back up here,” Moon said. “But there’s a lot of questions that need to be asked, and there’s a lot of things to search through. But I think it’s a good idea to ponder those questions.”
Moon compared the current Overton-Pickett structure to a business in the sense that the current model is harder to maintain.
“I believe most things are better off locally. The further out you get, the worse off you get,” Moon said. “Same way in business. The more business you’ve got in more counties, the more you’ve got to look after, the harder it is to take care of.”
Despite reaction to the proposal being split among residents, County Executive Richard Daniel said he was happy with the reaction in today’s meeting. However, Daniel added he isn’t pleased with the process.
“I’m just totally amazed that the people of this county would have to go through all the hoops just to get this on referendum,” Daniel said. “This is something that needs to be the people’s choice, and it needs to be their vote.”
However, Daniel is unsure on the final outcome based on documents he obtained through an open records request.
“From some of the emails that I’ve seen from a Tennessee open records request, I really doubt the board will allow it because I think the decision is already made,” Daniel said.
The State ECB will meet again Wednesday, August 1 at 9:30 a.m. in Nashville to decide whether to send the decision to the people of Pickett County as a referendum.
