Cambria County cutting alarm service

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March 11, 2010

By SANDRA K. REABUCK The Tribune-Democrat Thu Mar 11, 2010, 11:54 PM EST

EBENSBURG — Cambria County is dropping its longtime alarm service for residential and business customers effective July 1 rather that going ahead with costly upgrades for old equipment, the commissioners said Thursday.

Currently, 610 customers – 338 residential and 272 commercial – are served by the county’s monitoring system, said Brian Feist, executive director of the county’s emergency services department.

The alarm service dates back to 1992, when the countywide 911 system was established, Feist said. Prior to that, the service was provided through dispatching centers in Richland Township, Johnstown and the Mainline Police Association, he said.

President Commissioner P J. Stevens said that ending the service was a business decision based on several factors, including an estimated cost of nearly $500,000 to upgrade the outdated equipment.

In addition, he said there are concerns that in an era with technology changing so quickly, any new equipment soon would be outdated.

And it is not known is how a potential change in the 814 area code – which has been mentioned as a possibility

– would affect the county service, he said.

The county receives about $117,000 a year in revenues, officials said. What the service is not labor-intensive – it’s handled by 911 supervisors – the revenues would not be enough to pay for upgrades and continued services, Stevens said.

Multiple companies provide the services, so customers should have no difficulty in changing their service by

July 1, the officials said. Notices sent to the customers last week encourage them to call the company that provided their equipment for help in finding a new provider.

Susan Shahade, executive director of the Women’s Help Center, said she was stunned to learn the county was dropping the alarm monitoring service. The Women’s Help Center is a customer.

“I’m surprised that a 911 service would not provide central monitoring, but admittedly I don’t know the reasons for it,” Shahade said. “We’ll be looking for a new provider. I want to keep the work local.”

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