LISBON — After a recent problem with an AT&T maintenance outage made it impossible for the dispatchers at the county’s 911 answering centers as well as other dispatcher to communicate with each other, the county 911 Emergency Service Committee on Thursday approved a possible solution.

When the system went down, all of the 911 calls still went to the county sheriff’s office, which is hooked up to an additional line that brings the calls on a line from Columbus in an emergency. However, the sheriff’s dispatchers and other dispatchers had problems relaying the emergencies locally.

The outage affected the dispatchers at the county sheriff’s office, highway patrol, East Liverpool, Salem, East Palestine, Lisbon and Leetonia.

During Thursday’s meeting, 911 Coordinator Brian Rutledge said they have been looking at resolving the problem with the purchase of additional hand-held Marks portable radios. Left in the cradle in each dispatch center, the radios would give dispatchers an extra way, a wireless one, to reach out if the system goes down.

At this point, Rutledge said there have just began looking into it, but believe it would cost about $7,942 for the radios needed and there would be a $10 per unit maintenance fee.

Rudy Sacchet, one member of the committee, said at one time the 911 committee had looked at this before. The dispatchers would need a separate talking group and this should cover them because there is a very slim likelihood the phone system and Marks would go down at the same time.

The group approved moving forward with the backup system.

In another matter, Rutledge reported they are still waiting to hear whether they will be included in a state grant for a project to allow for a 911 texting system. If approved, Columbiana County’s cost for the project would be $10,677.

The next meeting of the 911 committee is planned for 1 p.m., May 7.

djohnson@mojonews.com