BROOKHAVEN — Lincoln County Board of Supervisors re-approved an inter-local agreement with the city of Brookhaven for E911 in a regularly scheduled meeting Monday morning. Sheriff Steve Rushing asked the board its opinion on upgrading the backup radio station at the department in conjunction with the E911 move. 

Brookhaven and Lincoln County will share a centralized E911 location soon. The inter-local agreement had one small change with the date being pushed back to August 1. Mississippi’s attorney general office had requested the change. 

The E911 building will have five radios but Rushing asked the board their thoughts on adding a backup radio at the sheriff’s department. Chris Reid, director of the Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency, said they could have a dispatcher come to the backup radio in case of a power outage or when they make the move to the E911 building. Rushing explained AT&T’s quote was well within the budget. 

“It would be $30,000 more for a backup system. You leave one down here and have five at E911. We are within our budget of $100,000,” Rushing said. “We didn’t want to do something without letting you know about it.” 

District 4 Supervisor Eddie Brown said it was a good idea because “You never know when one of the radios could break down.” 

Reid said the drywall was being mudded and sanded this week. Electrical work has been completed and telephone hook ups were completed. AT&T is working on the radio systems at the E911 center. 

The board had no objections to Rushing’s proposal for a backup system at the department. It would only be used as a backup.