BENTON COUNTY — The Benton County Quorum Court gave approval to use a $100,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase an emergency telephone notification system Thursday.

The system can automatically place phone calls to county residents in the event of severe weather.

The system can also be used by city and county administrators to place phone calls during other emergency situations such as a hazardous material spill, a missing child or a boil water alert, said Matt Garrity, Benton County emergency services manager.

“It really has multipleuses. Probably the biggest bang for the buck is going to be a tornado warning,” Garrity said.

The peak tornado season in Northwest Arkansas is from the first of April until the end of June, Garrity said.

Cooper Notification was awarded the bid for implementing the system in January.

County officials originally hoped to have the system running by February, but were unable to meet that deadline because the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency had to OK the project before the grant could be used to purchase the system.

Jay Burchfield, a business development regional manager for Cooper Notification, said the company can have the system running in between two and six weeks after it receives a signed contract.

“It has been a long process, but it is well worth the wait, and we look forward to assisting Benton County,” Burchfield said.

Garrity said the contract between the county and Cooper Notification is being reviewed by county attorney George Spence.

The county will pay for the system’s implementation and for the first year it is used with the grant.

The system will cost $21,000 each year afterthe first year. The service will be offered free to cities in the county for the first year.

Cities that want to keep the system will have to pay for a portion of the system’s annual costs after the first year, Garrity said.

The amount each city will pay will be based on population. Doug Farner, a member of the Bella Vista City Council, said he wants to see how the system will work.

“The only thing we can do is give it a try. I think it can do a lot of good things for us,” Farner said.

Farner said city officials will wait to see how beneficial the system is before making a decision about paying for it next year.

News, Pages 19 on 04/28/2010