Council approves new 911 gear, 2022 budget

According to Dispatch Center Director Michael McCammon, the center currently has a contract with AT&T for hardware and software that expires next year. “Their cost for maintenance was going to increase next year,” he told the council’s Police Committee meeting in advance of the main Dec. 13 meeting of the council, “so we decided to look at some different options.”

The preferred option, McCammon said, proved to be one available from CentralSquare. “One of the reasons we decided to go with them,” he said, “is [that] we already contract with them for our CAD [computer-aided dispatch] software.”

Therefore, McCammon continued, the new software will interface much more effectively with CAD than is currently the case with the AT&T software. “All this interfaces together, all the information,” he said, “so when we get a 911 call [it] all flows over to our CAD system [and] gives the dispatchers everything they need right there in one software.”

There is therefore no need, McCammon said, for the dispatcher to have to switch back and forth between screens to view different needed information.

“By doing it this year,” he said, “there is a pretty good cost savings.”

Up-front savings, McCammon said, will amount to $10,000 if the city enters into the contract by Dec. 31, with a $2,800 discount on the software subscription. “So I thought we’d try to take advantage of it this year, if we could,” he said, “to get those savings.”

McCammon added the support from CentralSquare on the current products Paragould uses has been most satisfactory. “They’ve been great to work with,” he said. “And as a matter of fact, there have been several counties around us that have since migrated over to them, just for the technology that they offer.”

“It looks like a ‘no-brainer’ to me,” said committee chair Aaron Camp. “Over the course of the contract, it’s going to save us about $100,000 [over what AT&T charges].”

Paragould Mayor Josh Agee told the committee that money for the contract was already in next year’s budget, albeit at the original $320,575 total cost. “So it’ll make next year’s budget look that much better,” he said.

Agee added that the ordinance to buy the hardware and software had waived competitive bidding, given the cost was more than the $35,000 price floor for such bidding. “But CentralSquare is a sole-source provider,” he said. “So we don’t have to waive competitive bidding, but if we do, that’s just one more step to safeguard ourselves against anything that might pop up in the audit.”

The committee unanimously recommended the council adopt the ordinance, which it did.

The council also adopted the 2022 city budget. As adopted, it shows overall anticipated revenues of $21.3 million and bank balances of $24.8 million for a total of $46.2 million in available funds. It shows overall expenditures of $24.3 million. In the General Fund, the budget shows revenues of roughly $16.9 million in revenue as against $16.8 million, for a surplus of $90,006.20.

Among its highlights, said Finance Committee chair Mark Rowland, were:

The addition of 32 “Sky Cop” surveillance cameras on the Eight Mile Trail, each with a coverage range of a quarter mile

A 9.6 percent insurance increase

Remodeling of the number 4 fire station

Extensive improvements to city parks

Seven new police vehicles

A total of 42 new police radios and 55 new body cameras for the Police department

New fire protection gear for the Fire Department

Five new sanitation trucks for the Sanitation Department

Added funding for flood control in the city