911 centers awarded tech grants

PENTWATER TWP. – Mason-Oceana 911 and Newaygo County Central Dispatch have been awarded grant funding to share technologies common to both centers though the Competitive Grant Assistance Program (CGAP). The CGAP provides funding for projects that encourage mergers, consolidations, and cooperation between two or more qualified jurisdictions.

“There are many benefits to this grant award. We’re all having to do more with less.” said Ray Hasil, director of Mason-Oceana 911. “It saves both 911 centers money by sharing technology and costs that we would otherwise have to purchase and fund independently. The technical consolidation also moves us in the direction of being fully functional backup centers to each other.”

The project is called a technical consolidation and will allow the two 911 centers to share technology systems common to 911 centers. The grant award is $681,643 and the total grant cost is $844,893. The grant provides funding for four specific projects; a microwave link between the two centers, licensing for Newaygo County to share Mason-Oceana’s existing computer aided dispatch (CAD) system with new CAD servers, new 911 call answering hardware/software for both counties, and a new recording system for Newaygo County.