The Schuylkill County Commissioners voted to spend another $2.8 million on the 911 Center Wednesday.

By a vote of 2-1, the Republican lead board indicated its approval of the allocation of $2,822,395.24 of COVID-19 money. Chairman Barron “Boots” Hetherington and Commissioner George Halcovage Jr. voted yes. Commissioner Gary Hess voted no.

The board has now spent a total of $5,144,728.24 on items for the 911 Center.

Wednesday’s amount for Nokia for 911 connectivity was needed, Hetherington and Halcovage said.

“This infrastructure is extremely important for what you need at the 911 Center, correct?” Halcovage asked Director Scott Krater.

Krater said yes.

Hetherington said the 911 Center has aging infrastructure.

Krater said money spent Wednesday will enable higher bandwidth capabilities for nine of the towers the county uses for 911 use and to remote dispatch locations, which are at the fire school, the Schuylkill Transportation Center in Saint Clair and the Porter Township Municipal building. Krater said the last update was 1997.

While believing updating the infrastructure is “a great idea,” Hess could not support it.

“The 911 and public safety is number one in my heart and I would go to the ends of the earth for that,” Hess said, however, the money should be spent elsewhere.

In talking about CARES money, “the sole purpose was to hopefully recoup things if what was incurred during this pandemic and continues to go through the pandemic. On the early onset, we promised businesses, municipalities and nonprofits some of this money,” Hess said.

He said the county purchased some items previously it isn’t using for the 911 Center.

“I know back when we first came in we upgraded the equipment to a large tune that we had to get, and I also understand we also purchased some other things in there that we still aren’t utilizing, which is eight years later,” Hess said.

“As a business person, I understand the concern that Gary Hess has, and also speaking with our administrator and our financial planner, I believe we can do both. Get this done, and get some money back right now to the businesses,” Hetherington said.

The improvements will occur before Dec. 30, David Bifulco, public sector sales director for the Mid-Atlantic Refion with Nokia said.

Recently, the board voted to spend $64,817 to Nokia of America for “transmission and product engineering costs associated with broadband connectivity.”

County Administrator Gary Bender said previously the broadband will be used with consoles the county purchased totaling $2.197 million. Commissioners also voted previously to buy Nomad remote computer assisted direction positions for $60,516 from Logisys of Missoula, Montana. The devices provide longitude and latitude coordinates for responders, making it more accurate.