Patrick Brandt, Delaware County emergency communications director, reported to the Delaware County 911 Board Tuesday that the Text-to-911 call system should be in place by year’s end.

“The majority of our population is still in the south,” Brandt said. “Not that the south is more important, but I want to make sure when Columbus goes live that the people in county are getting (the service).”

Northern parts of Columbus, Dublin and Westerville overlap into southern Delaware County.

Brandt said the southern towers are the ones that overlap, with the most people being affected. He has been working on having the towers configured so that Text-to-911 calls go to the correct 911 center in the proper county.

“Towers have three sides for a cell signal,” he said. “We can face which side we want that 911 call to be routed.”

Brandt said all the Sprint and Verizon towers in the county have recently been set up to route calls.

Brandt said he when he was talking with the City of Columbus he inquired about the vendor that Franklin County uses for Text-to-911 calling.

“The vendor they’re using and what we’ve seen price-wise is probably our best option,” he said.

Brandt said there are several Text-to-911 vendors from which to choose. He said the county is looking to use West Safety Solution Corporation of Longmont, Colorado.

Brandt said Aric Hochstettler, assistant county prosecutor, has looked over the contract and signed off on it. He expects it to be back from West Safety Solution Corporation in a couple of weeks.

Brandt said he has talked to surrounding counties’ emergency services about Text-to-911. He said he hasn’t heard anything from Marion or Morrow counties as of yet.

“Union County is working on it,” he said. “I think they would like to have it by the end of the year.”

In other business, Sheriff Russell Martin introduced Brittany Dowler as the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Dispatcher 2016.

“Brittany is one of the most confident and professional dispatchers that we have,” Martin said. “It’s more of symbol of not one specific event, but a full year of performance.”

Brandt said the 911 Center had three new dispatchers start Monday. He reported that the new hires give him a complete staff of 25 full-time and three part-time employees.