October 6, 2021 - With the impending withdrawal of Cellular One from the area, Shelby County Commissioners continued their discussion October 6, 2021, over cellular phone service utilized by the county.
Offices such as the Shelby County Sheriff's Department are heavily affected by this as Cellular One is the service provider for the department's cellular phones.
Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, organized a meeting via phone conference with Verizon Wireless representative Jerry Love, Verizon Government Account Manager, to try and understand what they will be offering in the Shelby County area. She was joined by Leah Chase, representing the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, and the conclusion after meeting with Verizon Wireless representatives is they would send a phone allowing the Sheriff's Department to test out the service in Shelby County.
"We did not get the phone yet, I did hear back from Mr. Love this morning," said Chase. "He stated that each line would be $40 per line."
Chase went on to reference email communication from Love saying service plans for the phones would be $39.99 for their Public Safety plan, which provides unlimited talk, text and data and allows for the lines to have priority on the cellular network in the event of an emergency.
As of the meeting, the phone had not yet been received. Blackwell indicated a little uncertainty from Verizon Wireless in how they would be providing service in the Shelby County area when asked if they would be using the Cellular One towers.
"His answer was well, they have the leasing rights to those towers but they would be bringing in their own infrastructure," said Blackwell. "So, it sounded like to me they might be using their towers, they may not and they didn't really know if their service was active here yet, or had gone live."
Blackwell said, as of November 30 the Sheriff's Department, Constables, Justice of the Peace, and District Attorney's Office will be without service unless a plan is made on what service to use.
"We're trying to figure out what our options are, because AT&T is not an option. They don't work, it doesn't work," said Blackwell. "We're hoping that Verizon will, but if they don't I don't know."
Blackwell suspects it will be several weeks before the commissioners will have enough information to make an informed decision.
"Of the five constables there's only two of them that use their cell phone. One [Zack Warr] and two [Jamie Hagler] said that they did not want a county phone, so we'll take those off. I'll check with five [Josh Tipton], he doesn't use his. He has one, he doesn't use it," said Blackwell.
According to Blackwell, the District Attorney's office only wants one cellular phone.
Judge Allison Harbison asked Chase to provide feedback to Blackwell once they have received the phone, and find out how it works.
Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner 4, inquired what the direction forward should be.
"Honestly, the Tracfone sounds like the next best option until something better comes along. AT&T is not going to work, there is no point in going with AT&T. You'll be doing like I do now paying for service that you don't have," said Blackwell.
Jimmy Lout, Commissioner Precinct 2, said AT&T installed a tower 1/2 a mile from his house, "my wife, she's on AT&T, she can't call in my yard and she's just a 1/2 a mile."
Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, asked what Cricket is and Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk, stated Cricket utilizes AT&T towers.
"If Verizon will work here they're going to get a lot of business, because there's a lot of AT&T people that'll switch, but I don't know right now and those guys (Verizon) did not really know," said Blackwell.
Chase said there was an extreme amount of uncertainty and the Verizon representatives couldn't confirm anything; however, they have been working on their move into Shelby County for the past four years.
Judge Harbison said if the phone isn't received on the day of the meeting, she asked Chase and Blackwell to contact Verizon and tell them the phone is needed right away.
A motion carried by the commissioners to table the cell phone discussion.
During the meeting a motion carried to appoint Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, and Robin Connell to the Shelby County Appraisal District Board.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:57am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Nominate Tom Bellmyer and Robin Connell to the Shelby County Appraisal District Board. 3. Adjourn. Agenda items tabled during the meeting include: 1. Execute the Contract for the American Rescue Plan Act Administrative Services between Shelby County and Grantworks, Inc. 2. Transition the cell phone contracts to another service.
