911/FCJETSB

The Staff

Mr. Amos Abbott, Franklin County 9-1-1 Director:

Mr. Abbott was hired as the Franklin County 911 Director on February 18th, 2020. Mr. Abbott has served as a 911 Telecommunicator, Dispatch Director, Emergency Manager, Fire Chief, and EMT. Mr. Abbott’s primary responsibilities include the overall management and administration of the Franklin County E911 system.

Mrs. Cathy Lamont, Deputy Director:

Mrs. Lamont’s primary responsibility is to assist the Director in the operation and administration of the Franklin County 911 system. Deputy Director Lamont serves as financial manager, organizes the monthly 911 board meetings and prepares reports for the annual audit.

Staff and Duties

The 9-1-1 Administrative Office is located at 907 W. Washington St. in West City. The main telephone number is 618-439-0911. The Staff is made up of two full-time employees.

Staff Duties

• Prepare for and host monthly Board Meetings
• Serve as Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) interface
• Purchase Public Safety hardware and software
• Maintain Public Safety hardware and software
• Maintain fixed asset inventory
• Vendor contract negotiations
• Payment of bills
• Financial audit preparation
• Street address assignment/verification/corrections
• Maintain Master Street Address Guide (MSAG)
• Maintain the Franklin County 9-1-1 Map
• Maintain the telephone number database
• Dispatcher Certification Training
• Policy preparation
• Bylaw updates
• Press Relations

Text-to-911 FAQs

What is Text-to-911?

Text-to-911 is the ability to send text messages from your mobile phone to local 911 call centers in an emergency if you are unable to place a phone call.

In Illinois, residents and visitors who are enrolled in their carrier’s text and/or data plan can use Text-to-911. If Text-to-911 service is not available, users will receive a bounce-back message telling them to place a phone or relay call.

What are the benefits of Text-to-911?

There are many significant benefits to Text-to-911, especially in cases when the caller cannot communicate verbally. For example, Text-to-911 is extremely useful for those who are hard of hearing, Deaf, or speech-impaired. Text-to-911 can also help in situations when a crime is in process; the caller is facing domestic abuse; the caller is injured and cannot speak; or other scenarios.

When will Text-to-911 be broadly available?

Text-to-911 is now available statewide to all residents and visitors in Illinois. If the service is not available in a certain area, or if temporarily unavailable, users will receive a bounce back message telling them to place a phone or relay call to request emergency service.

A phone call is still the preferred method for contacting 911 even when Text-to-911 is available.

Text-to-911 is intended for use in three primary scenarios:

For individuals who are Deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability

For someone in a situation where it may be unsafe to place a voice call to 911

For an individual who is experiencing a medical emergency and may be unable to speak

Call if you can, text if you can’t.

How does it work?

Wireless carriers will provide Text-to-911 services in the format requested by local 911 call centers, e.g., through TTY, through Internet Protocol (IP), or other technologies. The carriers will provision the service based on the call centers’ requests.

Text-to-911 service in Illinois is supported by many of today’s wireless carriers. Users must be enrolled in a text and/or data plan to text 911 and can contact their provider to confirm access to the service.

What are some challenges of Text-to-911?

Text-to-911, like all text messaging, is not without challenges. It may take longer for text messages to 911 to be received and responded to. Text messages to 911 also may be received out of order and do not include the same location information as a voice or relay call. When texting 911, it’s important to remember to include the location of the emergency in the initial message.

Additionally, 911 centers cannot receive pictures or videos via text message. Messages should be short and use simple language.

Why is Text-to-911 important?

Text messaging is one of the primary ways people communicate today, particularly young people, members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities, and those with speech disabilities. Statistics have shown that there are billions of SMS and MMS messages sent every day in the United States. The 911 community is constantly striving to meet the evolving needs of the public, and right now that means implementing Text-to-911 solutions.

While Text-to-911 does have some limitations and challenges, the ability to text 911 in an emergency when someone may be unable to place a phone call has the potential to save many more lives.

Address Number Methodology

If you need a physical address for a new structure, call the 9-1-1 Administrative Office at 618-439-0911. A “physical address” is also known as an “official 9-1-1 address.” When you call the 9-1-1 Administrative Office, make sure you have a physical address for a nearby structure to help us locate your site on the 9-1-1 Map. We do not assign addresses to open land … your structure must at least be staked out so we can identify the approximate location of the center of the structure.

The addressing methodology used in Franklin County was adopted to enable our “first responders” to reach citizens requiring emergency services in the shortest time possible with the least amount of confusion. For public safety reasons, we strive for consistency in our addressing of structures throughout Franklin County. However, there is not complete consistency across the County. For the most part, the cities, towns and villages in the County took responsibility for addressing the structures in their communities and the methodologies used are not the same in many cases.

How You Can Help “First Responders”

Make sure your Address Number is displayed so that it can be seen from the road. If your structure is a significant distance from the road, display your Address Number on your mail box or on a sign post at the end of your driveway

Road Address Determination

Generally, primary structures in the County are addressed to the road they face unless there is no immediately identifiable access to the structure. Consideration is given to the means of “access” to the structure if access is a substantial distance from the road it faces. The optimal situation is when a structure faces the same road from which the driveway to the structure extends. In the event that a structure is a substantial distance from the road it faces and there is no driveway from that road but there is a driveway from another road, the structure will be addressed to the road with the access.

Address Number Determination

• On East/West Roads, odd numbers are on the north side and even numbers are on the south side
• On North/South Roads, odd numbers are on the west side and even numbers are on the east side
• Address numbers increase as you travel north and as you travel east.
• Address numbers decrease as you travel south and as you travel west.