PHOTO BY BRENNA WHITE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
NEW PHONE SYSTEM … Williams County IT Manager Jeremy Suffel explains the three options they can take with their “next-gen” phone system update: self-hosted, vendor-hosted, or cloud-based.
By: Brenna White
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
publisher@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County 911 and Emergency Management Agency (EMA) held its first quarterly meeting of 2026 on February 3, 2026, with the County Commissioners.
The meeting began with the EMA portion, during which Director Heather Mercer reviewed recent planning updates. The Hazard Mitigation Plan was successfully adopted by the county’s villages and municipalities.
Mercer mentioned the recent 100-car pileup in Michigan’s I-196 on January 19, 2026. She explained that while there were few fatalities in that event, she wanted to make sure Williams County stays prepared for any possibilities.
“Hoping that something like that never happens here. The Mass Fatality Plan was last updated in 2020, so I’ve reached out to the Coroner’s Office to review it. We will work on updating that,” she said.
Discussion then shifted to the 911 portion of the meeting, where officials provided updates on several ongoing projects.
The Geographic Information System (GIS) software was approved to move forward after nearly two and a half years.
“This is the software we didn’t have to be able to change the Pioneer fire zones,” Mercer explained. The GIS update was expected to be completed in late spring of 2026.
The Multi-Agency Radio Communication System (MARCS) had a recent update in December 2025.
The west gate antenna was replaced and the signal had notably improved. Better reception had been observed in the most northwest portion of the county, specifically Nettle Lake and near Camp Frontier at the Pioneer Scout Reservation.
The primary focus of the meeting centered on an upgrade to the county’s 911 phone system. “The State has been working on transitioning this for about 15 years,” explained Michael Levy, Public Safety Systems Administrator.
“That is in place. The state did reach out to us last month, and indicated that they are ready for Williams County to move forward with the next gen transition.”
He notes that their current call software has reached the “end-of-life” status. They have not received updates for multiple years.
Levy and IT Manager Jeremy Suffel presented three options for phone service: self-hosted, vendor-hosted, and cloud-based “Vesta Nex.”
“This is the future, but I don’t think it is the future for us now,” explains Suffel, commenting on the high cost and early development.
“It gets complicated when it comes to the fact that we have a second dispatcher center in Williams County,” Suffel continued.
The Bryan City Police have their own dispatch center which routinely handles calls within the city, however medical calls are always re-routed to the county.
“I’m really concerned about having two 911 call centers in a next gen environment when they can’t dispatch our (county) EMS,” he says.
It was explained to continue operating cohesively, the Bryan City dispatch center would need to be included in the upgrade process.
A discussion was held on what steps they can take to move forward to continue the collaborative relationship between call centers.
While merging the two could potentially lower costs, the Bryan City dispatch center provides additional services such as posting bonds and DUI/OVI testing for impaired drivers.
The upgrade is planned to take place in the fourth quarter of 2026. No formal action was taken during the meeting, as officials emphasized the discussion was informational and represented an initial step in a longer process.