Brundidge officials are considering opting out of planned upgrades to the computer-aided dispatch service.

The service, offered through E911, provides first responders and law enforcement officials with maps and directions during emergency calls. The county currently has one CAD system in place, but E911 officials are working to upgrade the system with new maps and a new service provider.

“Brundidge is considering staying with their current CAD,” said Chris Dozier, E911 director. “We have no control over what any center does or decides to do. It’s an offer to all three centers.”

And, Dozier said, the CAD map and dispatch portion of the service are paid by E911.

Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport said the department was still considering the decision, but he thinks Brundidge’s current CAD can do the job just as well as a newer model.

“I do not need a new CAD,” Davenport said. “My CAD system is operator friendly, my people are accustomed to it and it can do anything we want it to do now. And, it can be upgraded to anything to do in the future.”

Davenport said he had spoken to the system operator and had been told that the system would be able to receive software updates, but Dozier said once the county began using Southern as its provider the system would be unable to receive updates.

“You will have to have the updated map to map 911 calls,” Dozier said during an E911 meeting this week. “Their map cannot be updated with addresses from the day we go online with Southern. The new system runs a newer version of the map server.”

Dozier said Brundidge could face liability issues if the department decided to stay with the old CAD system. And, Davenport said he understood that there could be issues if the department went with the older CAD.

“From a legal standpoint I may have to go with the new system, but I’m not going to put the citizens in my area in danger,” Davenport said. “But, I am also going to do a thorough investigation before I make a decision. From what I can understand, we are not going to miss anything if we stay with our system.”

Davenport said that ultimately his decision would be made after gathering more concrete information, but he does not feel the update was necessary for Brundidge.

“My CAD is efficient, and it’s capable of being upgraded,” Davenport said. “Troy’s CAD system is not equal to what we have right now, I can understand why they want to upgrade. They need a new system. My people don’t want to change, and I don’t see any incentives to change. My CAD is operator friendly, and with the new CAD system, the way we would have to run it, would not be to our advantage right now.”

During the meeting the board also approved the cost recovery agreement being passed from the board members over to the state board.

“The only difference between this legislature and the one in the past is they put language in there so we wouldn’t have to do it every year and we could have an option to opt out of the agreement,” Dozier said.

The board also approved for Dozier to advertise for a full-time assistant director.

“We approved the application, the job description and the initial selection process, which is going to be a committee selection,” Dozier said. “We will look over all the applications and narrow it down to a select few, and then board will at a called meeting will do the rest of the interviews.”