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The City of Hogansville is planning to upgrade all of its emergency 911 system. The city just won’t join LaGrange and Troup County on their contract with Motorola as they too upgrade their emergency communication systems.

The LaGrange City Council recently voted to replace their aging 911 system with Motorola at a cost of $5,315,932, which includes five-year maintenance contract. Three new towers were also proposed at an additional cost of up to $500,000 each.

The county has tentatively agreed to split the costs evenly with LaGrange for both the 911 system and the towers and is expected to approve the intergovernmental agreement at its next meeting on Sept. 6.

LaGrange Information Technology Director Alan Slaughenhaupt advised that negotiations were made to include West Point and Hogansville in the upgrades, but both cities declined to participate.

Hogansville Interim City Manager Lisa Kelly reached out to The LaGrange Daily News to clarify the city’s reasoning for not joining in with the county and LaGrange.

Kelly advised that city chose to go with Dean’s Commercial Two-Way out of Cataula for their new system because the Motorola proposal did not provide them with adequate coverage.

“There were major coverage holes right in the city,” Kelly said.

“We can’t have our officers in dead zones when they need to communicate.”

During the Hogansville City Council meeting on Aug. 1, the council approved a contract to upgrade all of the city’s emergency broadcast system at a cost not to exceed $204,000. That price includes a new antenna on one of the two towers that the city uses, which might not be needed. The price tag would be about $198,000 if the antenna is not needed.

The upgrade includes new broadcast radios for both the towers and portable radios for officers and patrol vehicles. The system also includes a new 911 dispatch console.

According to Kelly, nothing will change with the way 911 calls are handled in Hogansville. When someone calls 911 in Hogansville, the county will answer the call — as they currently do — and send it back to Hogansville to locally dispatch officers.

Hogansville has no current plans to start its own fire department or 911 system.

“We value our relationship with the county and the 911 and fire department services they provide,” Kelly said.