City still on track for federal money
By Jeremy Peppas / Staff Writer / jpeppas@nlrtimes.com
Thursday, July 16, 2009 12:39 PM CDT
The Homeland Security Spending Bill, passed by the Senate last week, has some North Little Rock money built into it.
The money, $900,000, is for a new 911 communications center in the city, and would also include an Emergency Operations Center.
Mayor Patrick Hays said the city was still working out a location for the center.
“We have some options,” Hays said last week. “There might be some room at the old administration building at the airport. Memorial Hill is also on the list and then rehabbing part of the old jail. Those would be the three on the list.”
The center would cost more than the $900,000 allocated so far.
“It goes a long way, but it doesn’t quite get us all there,” Hays said.
He added that the location of the center would determine some of the costs of the facility since the building has to have a hard line connection to the police department, but also be high enough up on the landscape to avoid any problems with line-of-sight issues.
The $900,000 is part of a $42.9 billion homeland security spending bill that has yet to be approved by the House of Representatives.
Both of Arkansas’ senators — Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor — voted for the funding.
“We have worked with several communities on this, including North Little Rock,” Lincoln said. “The Homeland Security Appropriations bill passed by the Senate will not provide all of the funding that the city needs to obtain this equipment, but it will certainly help.”
While Pryor said, “I believe this spending bill meets our security needs — addressing solutions to fix leaky borders prevent terrorist acts, respond effectively to natural disasters, and equip first responders. I am particularly pleased the center in North Little Rock will receive a major boost in funding, allowing it to more effectively prevent and respond to disasters in central Arkansas.”
The upgrades would allow the center to serve all of central Arkansas, in case of a major emergency and would allow the facility to connect with the Arkansas Wireless Information Network, a system designed for all of Arkansas’ emergency responders.
“One of those tools is an interoperable communications system that allows them to talk to each other during emergency response,” Lincoln said. “I know that the State of Arkansas has worked in recent years to implement the Arkansas Wireless Information Network and that many of our local first responders are trying to obtain the equipment necessary to be a part of that system.”
