Cellular grant to fund Keweenaw County addressing EAGLE RIVER ’Äì Of the 83 Michigan counties, Keweenaw County is the only one able to fund an enhanced 911 emergency system entirely through cellular phone grant money. This includes the heavy cost of county addressing, which is the first step in setting up a 911 system. Unlike other counties, Keweenaw County will not have to add a surcharge to residents’Äô regular phone bills since it is small enough to cover the cost of the system with the cellular phone money it has been receiving for more than a year. Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti, 911 Committee chairman According to Keweenaw County Sheriff Ron Lahti, 911 Committee chairman, Keweenaw’Äôs situation is unique because the cellular funds alone will support setting up a 911 system and continuing it at least until 2006 and possibly much longer. "We’Äôre collecting about $44,000 a year over a four-year period, so there’Äôs more than enough money to pay for this plus get a 911 system up and running for several years with this money ’Ķ with no cost to (the people of Keweenaw County)," Lahti said. "We’Äôve been told by the people in Lansing that the likelihood of (the funds) continuing is very good." Cellular phone customers, whether or not they live in a county with 911 service, are already paying for the system through a surcharge of only 55 cents per month on their cell phone bills. At the 911 Committee’Äôs request, the County Board of Commissioners recently approved spending $55,558 of that money to hire the Top Comp Company for addressing the county. "The big cost is the addressing, which will be paid for in the first two years," Lahti noted. "Keweenaw County’Äôs addressing system is poor to none in some places." He added that in some areas, where new development is going in, "people are actually making up addresses." Lahti said the 911 addressing would remedy that problem and address rural areas and other places in the county that do not have proper addresses, such as Eagle River. Communities like Mohawk and Fulton, where addressing systems are already in place, will be left alone. Lahti said the addressing would probably start by the end of the month and continue for several months. He said he was not sure when the 911 system would be in place but it could be as soon as 18 months from now. Once the addressing is done, the continuing funds will be used to pay for police and fire department equipment and for the Negaunee dispatch. "911 is a thing of the future. It’Äôs not going to go away," Lahti noted. The technology for 911 calls from cell phones, he explained, is now in Phase One, which means the dispatcher is able to identify the cell phone tower nearest the call in order to narrow down the area for emergency service personnel who need to know the location of the call. In Phase Two, which is a couple of years away, the dispatcher will be able to pinpoint not only the tower but the exact location of the call using GPS (Geographic Positioning System) coordinates. Eventually, the Negaunee Dispatch, using a computerized map, will be able to locate a caller with pinpoint accuracy, using GPS coordinates. Thus, if a snowmobiler or lost hiker carrying a cell phone dials 911 for help, even if the person doesn’Äôt know where he or she is, the dispatcher will know and will be able to identify nearby roads to get rescuers to the person on the trail. The Keweenaw County Board approved the 911 plan in December, 1999, after a public hearing. Copper Harbor resident Richard Powers assisted the committee in writing the plan. The Board has appointed Keweenaw County Commissioner Don Keith as Emergency Services Coordinator. Keith has been an active member of the Eagle Harbor Township Fire Department. ’Äì Michele Anderson February 20, 2001