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By LEANN McCOY
Staff Writer
Telephone lines used to contact the police department are now back on the old system.
The city administrative lines that connect citizens to the police department and emergency services were taken off the city’s new digital phone system and put on an analog system, Ward Two Councilman Fredreick Wilson said at Monday’s city council meeting.
“The police main line at 226-1211 were not working over the weekend,” said Wilson. “It was put back on a hard line.”
Several city sources said earlier this week that once the lines people utilize for animal control, police escorts and alarm systems go down, they start dialing 911, which ties up the emergency services line.
If an alarm goes off at a business or residence, it does not go to the dispatch, a source said.
Interim City Manager Charles “JoJo” Weathers said that the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Van Dorn Street should be on the analog system by today.
The EOC and the police department have had frequent problems since the purchase of the new phone system in October 2011.
The city signed a five-year least at $935 a month, or a total of $56,100, for the system.
Speed hump
The council unanimously denied a citizen’s request to install a speed hump on Futheyville Road with a motion by Ward Five Councilman Timothy Chism and seconded by Ward Six Councilman Larry Vance.
The speed hump was requested by Lee Martin, owner of a small body shop along the road. A speed hump, although used for the same purpose of a speed bump, is usually made of asphalt, one to six inches tall, and can be one to three feet wide.
Since August, Martin has come to every council meeting requesting the reinstallation of the speed hump that was put down in front of his business and then taken up four days later, he said in an interview on Tuesday.
(Additional meeting details available to our print and online edition subscribers.)
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