The consolidation of Carbon County's 911 communication system is celebrating its silver anniversary.

On Thursday, the county commissioners, as well as members of the Carbon County Telecommunications Commission executive board, gathered to recognized the importance of having a unified network when it comes to handling emergency calls.The consolidation between various communications centers within the county into the one that handles thousands of calls today happened on Aug. 15, 1990, "for the purpose of providing emergency services," under the direction of Joseph Steber, John McArdle, Al Klitsch, Kathy Reigel, Bruce Conrad, the late Joseph Delpero, John Mogilski, Clair Rehrig, Barry Scherer, Victor Stonebraker, attorney James Nanovic, the late Roger Naratil, Ann Marie Williams and Monroe County director of communications Gary Hoffman."In the late '80s we had a dream," said Steber, who served as president of the commission. "Then we had a plan and we put that plan into action."He noted that before the communications center in Nesquehoning was created, there were multiple smaller centers throughout the county, including at the former prison in Jim Thorpe as well as in Lansford and Lehighton.Steber said that since the consolidation, the communication center has "evolved into a highly technical center."Conrad, a member of the telecommunications commission and former county employee, added that the commission had a vision that was unlike anyone else in the country, adding a sophisticated GIS mapping system that could pinpoint spots within a foot in every direction. At the time, no one else was doing that and the county led the way for this endeavor.Hoffman, who served as a liaison from Monroe County during the consolidation, said what made this a success 25 years ago was not the building or equipment, but rather the dispatchers and their dedication to serving the community."It's the people that make it happen," Hoffman said. "You can have the best equipment in the world, but you need the people to make it work and you have that."Gary Williams, director of the communications center, thanked the men and women in attendance who "got the ball rolling.""I applaud you for what you did," he said. "You did a great job. We have a state of the art facility right now."The commissioners adopted a resolution honoring the consolidation efforts."The communications systems throughout the United States are of extreme importance to emergency responders in that they provide impetus for those responders to answer the call to ensure public welfare and the safety of citizens and visitors," Commissioners' Chairman Wayne Nothstein read following the adoption. "In 1990, the Pennsylvania General Assembly declared it in the public interest to provide the toll-free number 911 for an individual within the commonwealth to gain rapid, direct access to emergency aid."In the past two-and-a-half decades, county communications centers became state-of-the art facilities with the evolution of highly technical equipment and standards, personnel certifications and quality assurance requirements, to name a few, including the current Carbon County Communications Center, located in Nesquehoning, which is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week and whose personnel are specifically trained in expediting emergency responses through the use of sophisticated call taking and computer-aided dispatch equipment."Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard thanked Williams, the commission members and the dispatchers for making this vision a reality.