Edmonson County Fiscal Court allocates $130K to dispatch center upgrades

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Edmonson County Dispatch Center Director, Robin Rigdon, says the center can get anywhere from 35 to 70 calls a day.

“Our consoles have reached the maximum capabilities of the radio channels that we can answer for,” Rigdon said.

Some of the equipment the center is using, is almost 15 years old.

“They’re not obsolete, but they’re outdated,” Rigdon said. “With the upgrade, it’s going to give us the more communication channels that we need to add additional radios, for agencies that we dispatch for.”

The upgrade? An allocation of $130,000 to improve the center’s main equipment console.

“I went to the fiscal court and asked them for funding through the ARPA funds. We’re very appreciative that the fiscal court allowed us to purchase the new consoles through that.”

Once it was announced by the government that American Rescue Act funds could be allocated to general use, Edmonson County Judge Executive Wil Cannon, said it was an easy call to make.

“This is the first step of every emergency in the county or every non-emergency,” Cannon said. “Without these people, the proper equipment, them doing their job, proper training, nothing happens. Things don’t get done exactly the way they need to be.”

Rigdon said she’s hopeful the upgrades will make work easier for the smaller agency.

“We have one dispatcher on duty most of the time,” Rigdon said, “With wireless headsets, that will give us the access to answer the phones and talk on the radios all at the same time.”

As far as future improvements go, Rigdon said she’s looking forward to keeping this trajectory.

“I would just like for us to be able to stay on the path that we are continuing, to update as needed, and be able to to modernize our agency as maybe some of the larger ones.”

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