Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023–5:10 p.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

Renovations to the Floyd County E-911 Center are continuing.

Floyd County’s Public Safety Committee got an update on the project during their Thursday meeting from 911 director Sommer Robinson.

“They have the televisions up, where we can do the weather,” she said. “The station cameras will be on one of them as well. We have the consoles up and we have the phone upgrades.”

Robinson also showed off the new break room.

“We’ve got Coke, Pepsi, and food so my dispatchers don’t have to leave,” she added. “We have hot dogs, hamburgers, and pizzas. They are vending machines with a kiosk. Anybody in the building can use it; it’s not just for 911.  The entire setup was free. We did not have to pay anything for them to come do this. They even provided us with two microwaves.”

Other renovations include a Viper 911 system upgrade, and cable/coaxial replacement along with the eight new console workstations.

$275,000 was earmarked in the 2017 special purpose, local option sales tax for the E-911 Center upgrades. However, the county had to put off the project when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

The 911 Center is located in the joint law enforcement center downtown.

PAWS live outcomes still over 95 percent, county looking at extended hours

The public safety committee also heard from new Public Animal Welfare Service Director Katy Walters.

“We are maintaining our 95% live outcome,” she said. “We are at 95.06%, so that’s exciting. Hopefully, once we get some repairs done to our building and get some things cleaned up and ready for the public we will be opening up for some extended hours so we can get some more animals in and out of here.”

Commissioner Scotty Hancock liked the idea of having some extended hours.

“It’s hard to get in there to adopt,” he said. “I had to make an appointment for the dog we got from animal control to get spayed, and it took me forever with my schedule to figure out how I could get her in there for an appointment. I was looking at the hours of operation and the shelter side is not open a lot. It’s real difficult to get those live outcomes and adoptions it you’re not open on the weekend. So, I think extended hours are a great idea.”

Walters said the hope is to be able to open at 11:30 every morning and close at 4:30 p.m. and to be open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays.