HANCEVILLE — The city of Hanceville agreed to upgrade its emergency dispatch software in lieu of a potential back charge of between $47,000 and $56,000 from the service provider Avtec.
Motorola Sales Representative Shane Bryson addressed the council Thursday, on behalf of Avtec. He said since the city had not updated the Scoutcare software since the current dispatch unit was installed more than four years ago, despite his numerous attempts requesting both former police chief Bob Long and former Mayor Kenneth Nail to do so.
“They just kept refusing to upgrade,” Bryson said.
Bryson said the cost to bring the city’s dispatch units up to the current software would now include a “backlog” of payments totaling between $47,000 and $56,000. However, he said Avtec had agreed to wave the additional payments if the city agreed to a three-year service agreement of $20,000 per year.
“They’re doing you guys a favor by doing away with that if you sign that three-year service agreement,” Bryson said.
Hanceville City Clerk Tania Wilcox told The Times on Friday, that she was unsure of how the backlog payments were calculated and that the city had not been billed for any services during the four year period. When reached by phone, also on Friday, Nail said he had been offered upgrade options on a number of occasions during his time as mayor, but he had felt it seemed unnecessary at the time.
“Well everything was working fine for us, so I couldn’t see wasting the taxpayers money just to upgrade something that was working just fine,” Nail said. “It’s not so much that the city owes that money, it’s that that’s how much it would have cost if we had done those upgrades. But, we didn’t do the upgrades.”
Bryson said he was concerned that the service may not continue to work as well if the system was not brought up to date.
“It’s kind of like a computer system, if it does not update its software you’re going to start seeing glitches and missed calls,” Bryson said.
The council agreed to the proposed three-year service agreement pending the review of City Attorney Dan Willingham.
The council also heard zoning proposals from two city residents, Robert Powell and Kortni Quick.
Powell presented the council with a copy of a zoning ordinance from the city of Helena, Alabama which regulates payday loan lenders and suggested Hanceville adopt similar measures to fit its population.
“These establishments may offer convenience in times of financial strain, but they also present significant risk of trapping individuals in damaging cycles of debt. With a poverty rate of 24 percent, a significant portion of our population may be susceptible to these loans,” Powell said.
While Powell recommended zoning additional businesses, Quick petitioned the council to revisit its current regulations for tattoo facilities. She said she has been a lifelong Hanceville resident working as a tattoo artist for the last 11 years and would like to open her own establishment.
Quick said she has already received permission from a local business owner to use a portion of their space to open her shop and would be willing offer additional goods, such as her original artwork, if needed so that tattooing made up only a portion of the businesses revenue.
Willingham said tattoo facilities are not listed in the city’s zoning ordinance, meaning that they are not allowed with the city limits. To allow them, he said, would require the council to amend the current ordinance to include tattoo shops within a current zone or to create a new zone specifically for them.
The council did not take action on either request.