Adams County supervisors anxiously await Natchez officials’ decision on joint E911 operations

Adams County supervisors anxiously await Natchez officials’ decision on joint E911 operationsNATCHEZ, Miss. – Adams County supervisors are wondering whether city officials will continue to  help fund and maintain Natchez-Adams County’s E911 emergency-dispatching operations that the county board plans to move to a building near Liberty Road.A meeting between county officials and Mayor Dan Gibson is planned for next week to discuss the E911 operations’ future, said county board attorney Scott Slover.  Natchez and Adams County officials combined their local E911 operations in 2017, but they’ve stalemated this past year on reaching an agreement to continue this as they plan to move the emergency dispatchers out of the county’s deteriorating jail building.The impasse on where to put E911 has raised chances the city and county will dissolve the consolidated dispatching operations and go separate ways.County board President Kevin Wilson said he wants to know by next month whether city officials will continue the merged E911 operations. “We’ll know more information, hopefully, by our next (county board) meeting…. I don’t want to kick the can any longer down the road,” Wilson said Wednesday during county supervisors’ last scheduled meeting before they reconvene in March.The county Board of Supervisors last year bought a building off Liberty Road on Feltus Street for $120,000 to relocate the E911 dispatchers and equipment.County and city officials have been discussing in recent years the need to move the emergency-call operations they jointly fund from the county jail basement. The county sheriff-jail building on State and Wall streets has been plagued in recent years with various structural defects that have included raw sewage occasionally seeping from the county jail upstairs down into the E911 center. In addition to a new E911 facility, upgraded equipment has also been needed to replace antiquated fixtures.While Gibson and city aldermen have concurred with county supervisors about the need to move the E911 center out of the county jail building, no resolution has been reached on where to relocate. The mayor noted last year that concerns have also been expressed by county officials that Natchez was not paying its fair share for the operations.It’s been costing about $660,000 a year to operate the local E911 service, with Adams County and Natchez sharing the expenses.Most of the E911 calls are for the Natchez Police Department, according to reports presented to the Adams County Board of Supervisors.  More than 680 calls were for the NPD while about 260 were for the Adams County Sheriff’s Office during the most recent reporting period. The Natchez Fire Department got 30 calls.E911 operators take phone calls from people in need of police, fire and ambulance services.