911Services

The RGCOG’s Regional Services Division oversees the 9-1-1 program. The Division manages the planning, implementation, upgrades and funding of 9-1-1 service and rural addressing projects in Brewster, Culberson, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties. The 9-1-1 systems and addressing projects are funded by a local service fee of 50 cents per local exchange access line per month, and by an equalization surcharge fee imposed on intrastate long distance service. Both activities are subject to the guidelines and policies of the Advisory Commission on State Emergency Communication (ACSEC) and funding availability.

The RGCOG regional 9-1-1 plan consists of four public safety answering points (PSAPs). The PSAP is the agency designated to receive 9-1-1 calls from a specific geographic area or from specific telephone exchange areas. Equipment is installed in each PSAP to receive and transfer, if necessary, the 9-1-1 calls. As part of the mandate, each PSAP consists of two answering positions for redundancy, a minimum of two incoming 9-1-1 trunks that carry 9-1-1 traffic only, a printer to log every call received, and the automatic number identification (ANI) level of service. Additional equipment provided by 9-1-1 includes a voice recording system to record every 9-1-1 call.

The county addressing project is near completion in its five rural counties. Personnel have been assigned to develop and notify physical location addresses in the rural portion of the counties. The addressing coordinator has been trained on various mapping and addressing software to include Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Within the last year, almost 85% of the roads in each county have been identified, named, and driven utilizing a GPS unit to collect data on the exact location of various points to include driveways. The data collected will be utilized to determine physical location address for each point.

The remaining ANI 9-1-1 systems are scheduled for upgrades to ALI 1998 as county addressing projects near completion. The final step will be to provide the telephone companies with the physical address database for use in the 9-1-1 ALI systems.

For More Information Contact: Armida Borunda (915) 533-0998, ext. 127