911 centers and tower to get generator backup

Morgan County officials recently awarded a contract to a Harrisonburg, Va. company to supply and install three back-up power sources for Morgan County's 911 operations.

Power Connection, Inc. will perform the electrical work under the contract.

Funds for the $110,609 project will come from a $95,000 Homeland Security grant and from the county's Ambulance Fee fund.

Commissioners made the final decision about the project on Thursday, July 23, after several rounds of discussions.

Bids entered by two companies to install generators at 911 sites in the county both exceeded the grant amount, so the commissioners were forced to reexamine the priority status of each site.

The highest priority location to be powered in a major emergency and loss of electricity is the main 911 operations center at the county's Rescue Squad building, said 911 Director Dave Michael.

Next in importance is the county's main 911 tower on Cacapon Mountain. That tower handles most of the county's emergency radio communications, Michael said.

Third on the list is the Paw Paw Senior Center, which will act as a western emergency command center and evacuation shelter in a disaster.

The commissioners had originally asked that the entire Senior Center building be powered by a generator in an emergency, but adding power to the Mountaineer Health Clinic upstairs made that option too expensive.

Commissioner Stacy Dugan pushed for a generator at the Paw Paw Senior Center, saying they had been promised an emergency backup many years ago.

The final site under consideration for an emergency generator was Paw Paw's 911 tower. That project will be held over until the next fiscal year, said Michael.

Because the total cost for the three generators and associated electrical work ran over the grant amount, Dugan made a motion to use $15,609 from the county's Ambulance Fee fund to cover part of the cost of the generator that will power the Rescue Squad. Tommy Swaim seconded that motion, which passed unanimously.

Michael estimated that the generators at the 911 sites will be operational by October.