The local 911-system director is lobbying the state to rethink its mandate for 911-backup systems.

The law passed in 2014 requires all public agencies operating 911 centers to have an alternate plan for taking 911 calls in the event a primary center is unable to receive and process calls. While local stakeholders agree a backup system is a necessity, the question of how those Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) are implemented remains, according to Vic Williams, director of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Communications.

Williams updated the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners at Monday’s regular meeting about the efforts he’s made with the state and the local 911 committee to move forward with a local PSAP.

The deadline to submit a plan to the state board is July 1, and Williams said he’s been lobbying the board to review the mandate. He said because there are no set guidelines as to the creation of a PSAP, some agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of grant money from the state board to house exact duplications of primary 911 systems, even though evolving technology will make them obsolete in a few short years.

“With a mandated backup PSAP, there are millions of dollars being spent, because they’re building buildings from the ground up,” Williams said. “My point is the 911 Board does not have enough money to fund the backup PSAPs.”

State funding is an issue; as is technology, he said. As more people rely on cellphones, smartphones and other technology for communication, 911 systems will need to keep up — outdated systems can hamper rescue efforts. For example, landlines are associated with a single address, but the location from which emergency calls from cellphones originate can be only generally determined based on the location of the nearest cell tower. In cases where the caller cannot speak due to a medical emergency or for fear of alerting perpetrators engaged in a criminal act, the lack of compatibility with evolving technology could mean life or death.

“The reason we don’t have text-to-911 in Beaufort County is because the phone system in the sheriff’s office is outdated,” Williams said.

Williams pointed out that by the year 2020, existing 911 systems will become obsolete, as the nation moves to Next Generation 911, an Internet Protocol-based system that allows digital information through voice, photos, videos and text messages to flow seamlessly from the public, through the 911 network and on to emergency responders, according to the 911.gov website.

“Voice, text and video calls — that’s where it’s going,” Williams said.

Williams said he is working to find ways to restructure the 2014 law to make backup PSAPs more basic in anticipation of the coming change to an IP-based system.

County Manager Brian Alligood said the 2016-17 Manager’s Recommended Budget presented to the Board of Commissioners in Monday’s meeting does account for implementation of a PSAP in the coming year.

“They’ve got some numbers in there, assuming they get a grant from the state,” Alligood said. “They’ve got a plan to handle what they need to handle on the backup side, but they’re trying to be very prudent about those restrictive dollars.”