Ohio State Fire Marshall Kevin Reardon, right, speaks during a news conference with Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, left, Thursday afternoon at Trumbull County 911 on Howland Wilson Road. Behind them, Major Tony Villanueva with the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office and state Senator Michael Rulli look on.

HOWLAND — Gov. Mike DeWine visited the Mahoning Valley on Thursday to reveal one aspect of his proposed budget: Updates to the 911 system that are more compatible with cell phones, rather than landlines, and allows users to contact 911 via call, text, smart watch, other wearable technology and vehicles.

The governor’s office submitted a proposed budget to the Ohio General Assembly a few days ago and DeWine made three stops throughout the state Thursday highlighting some of the initiatives within it. He stopped at the Trumbull County 911 Center on Howland Wilson Road to announce the proposed statewide expansion of the Next Generation 911 system.

In his budget, DeWine requested a total of $45.9 million for the infrastructure, which would ensure the implementation of the new fiber optic network in every Ohio community. Currently, four counties in the state are piloting the program, including Columbiana County.

“The programs we’ve put together have provided important services while reducing the burden on local governmental budgets,” DeWine said.

Several initiatives in the budget make up the Secure Ohio Plan, including improvements to 911.

As people move away from landlines and toward cell phone use, the new system will be better suited for cell phone calls. DeWine said the current 911 system is not as good as pinpointing locations on cell phones as it is with landlines. This causes people to be directed to the wrong call center initially, especially near community and county boundaries.

The Next Generation 911 system will be able pinpoint a person’s location within feet of where they are while using a cell phone. This saves time in getting first responders to the scene, and assists those first responders in knowing exactly where that person is.

This will be possible, DeWine said, because mobile carriers will transmit location data to 911 centers.

“When someone calls 911 for an emergency, their expectation is to get help as soon as possible — that’s why they’re calling,” DeWine said. “Next Generation 911 will improve response times and save lives by addressing issues with the current analogue 911 system.”

Users now will be able to contact 911 by text message. DeWine said this will be a huge improvement, especially for situations of domestic violence, where a victim may not be able to talk on the phone, but can text.

Next Generation 911 also will expand the type of devices that can contact 911.

“In addition to mobile phones, 911 will be able to get communications from smart watches, other wearable technology, home security systems and vehicle systems,” DeWine said. “These systems can provide 911 with significant information, such as the temperature of rooms in a fire situation, if an airbag was deployed in a car and even vital signs from a smart watch.”

Those devices also will be able to send photos and videos.

Kathleen Madden, the director of the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, which 911 falls under, said her department has been working with a statewide steering committee, as well as local leaders and the governor to bring the new technology to Ohio.

She said the biggest concern the state heard from local leaders was about the cost of implementation. The governor’s budget would cover the cost of the statewide infrastructure, as well as the last mile connection to local agencies.

Madden said the infrastructure will be built over the next couple of years.

DeWine said the state wants to get this system implemented as quickly as possible, because in some situations, it is a matter of life and death.

∫ GAME CHANGER

Local leaders who spoke at the governor’s press conference applauded the potential rollout of the Next Generation 911 system.

“The Next Gen system will really be a true game changer for emergency management, not only here in Trumbull County, but across the state of Ohio,” said John Hickey, Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency director. “The information sharing through the platform with other dispatch centers in invaluable for what we need to do if we had a multi-county or multi-agency emergency.”

Hickey said texting and photo sharing features will be huge, especially in disaster situations. He noted the various options for communication will also vastly improve the ability of special needs individuals to communicate with 911.

Major Tony Villanueva with the Trumbull County Sherrif’s Office said law enforcement is constantly challenged to update its investigation techniques as technology improves. He said the new 911 technology will provide better tools for the dispatchers, who can in turn provide better direction and resources for first responders.

“The success of a response begins with the initial call information that is received by our 911 dispatch center,” Howland fire Chief James Pantalone said. “Providing them the right tools, advanced technology and state-of-the-art facilities is where it all begins.”

∫ SECURE OHIO PLAN

Another part of the Secure Ohio Plan includes putting a school resource officer in every school, which DeWine announced at his first stop of the day at Lakewood schools in Cuyahoga County.

Other parts of the plan include fully funding 40 hours of continuing service to law enforcement officers; MARCS mobile voice service to every local agency; improvements to the 988 mental health crisis hotline so that there are call centers throughout the state, allowing those who call to talk to someone local, rather than someone from Columbus.

DeWine also announced at Lakewood schools the fourth round of funding for the K-12 School Safety Grant Program. This round, 945 schools will receive a total of $68 million in grants. A fifth round of funding will be announced in the coming weeks.

“When we created the K-12 School Safety Grant Program, we expected that the need for funding would far exceed the amount of money available, but I vowed to go back to the legislature and ask for more,” DeWine said. “Now, with the generous support of the Ohio General Assembly, I’m proud to announce that every single qualifying school that applied for a grant will receive funding.”

In Trumbull County, six school districts will receive a total of $1.08 million. Liberty schools will get the most with $300,000 and Newton Falls schools will get the second most with $293,800.

In Mahoning County, six school districts will receive a total of $712,200. Struthers schools will get the most with $194,900. Three school districts in Columbiana County will split $371,100.