Genie Collins
ELLAVILLE — Whether it’s economic development or public safety, regionalism and the concept of several counties working together get gold stars.
That was one of the concepts that recently landed the Middle Flint Regional E911 Authority the 2006 Notable Project Award from the Association County Commissioners Georgia (ACCG).
According to “Special Commendation: A Shining Example,” an article by Susan Percy in a recent edition of Georgia Trend magazine, ACCG Deputy Director Ross King calls the Middle Flint Authority “a shining example of rural regional success. We are holding it up as a model for other regions across the state, especially as it relates to organization, staffing and financing.”
According to Percy’s article, the seven counties on the Authority — Schley, Dooly, Macon, Marion, Sumter, Taylor and Webster counties — were given “special commendations” by the Georgia County Excellence Awards program judges, for the counties’ joint efforts.
The Center was the first of its kind in the state, and no one county represented on the Authority could afford such an undertaking on its own. Given that, the award meant different things the different people involved.
“I was very pleased and glad the seven counties got the recognition they deserved for working together,” said Middle Flint Regional E911 Center Executive Director Ellice Fancher. She said that she gets that compliment a lot from people about the Authority, “when some people who live in the same county can’t work together.”
When asked what it meant to get the award and receive state recognition, Fancher said, “It had never been done before. It was the first and biggest of its kind.”
Fancher said it’s an example of what can happen when people stop thinking of what’s best for their own county “and do something that’s good for everybody.”
“We will continue to grow and get better,” Fancher said. “Just because we’re getting awards doesn’t mean we’re perfect.”
She said, “We are adding on and fine tuning” for both the agencies served by the Center and the Center employees.
Fancher said the Center was recently awarded a “system of major health outbreaks” by the Georgia Department of Public Health. This program would provide Fancher and other Center employees information on the symptoms of major health issues, such as the Avian flu and the bird flu.
“We were also awarded a State Interoperable Radio System,” Fancher said. This is a communications system that allows public safety officials to communicate with each other in various parts of the state.
“I’m proud of that,” Fancher said. “It shows the state people are looking out for us.”
“Without the Center here, we would not have the ability to communication on the Interoperable Radio System.”
Fancher said there are currently 31 people employed at the Center from all seven counties represented on the Authority.
“They (the dispatchers) are doing something that’s not easy and it takes someone very special to do,” Fancher said, showing pride in her dispatchers.
She said the “pre-employment test” that applicants are required to take helps her, because with this, she does not have to waste time interviewing people who can’t do the job.
“I am proud of our hiring program,” Fancher said. “It’s very fair and gives everybody an equal shot.”
When asked what receiving the Notable Project Award meant, Vice Chairman Doug Redmond of Schley County said, “I think it shows everybody in the state what can be accomplished when entities sit down and forget county lines and city limits and work together.”
“We all needed it, but not one of us could fund it by ourselves,” Redmond said.
He said it was a situation where entities came together as a region.
Redmond said state Sen. George Hooks, D-Americus, was instrumental for securing $15,000 for the first feasibility study for the Center.
