Lincoln County will begin the new year with a new 911coordinator following supervisors’ decision Monday to hire MichaelGines for the position.

“He has the experience we were looking for, and he’ll start workon Jan. 2,” said County Administrator Tillmon Bishop.

Bishop said about 10 candidates were interviewed for the 911coordinator’s job.

“They were all good candidates, but he was the one I felt wasbest suited for the job,” Bishop said.

Gines, of Brookhaven, replaces Evelyn Summers, who resigned inOctober.

Since then, the 911 coordinator duties have been divided amongother county administration office employees handling computer dataentry, and the civil defense director, who has been dealing withaddress assignment functions.

County officials briefly considered keeping the divided dutiesplan. However, Bishop said employees may not be comfortable withthat and a decision to have a full-time person was in the bestinterests of the board.

Bishop said he was looking for Gines to continue the good workthat Summers had done for the last eight years.

“It’s a job that requires a lot of accuracy because a lot ofpeople depend on the 911 numbers for addresses and utilities,”Bishop said.

Also, Bishop touted Gines’ computer experience. He said Gineswill be able to assist Comptroller David Fields with the county’scomputer system.

Gines was unavailable for comment Monday and this morning.