Updated 6/12/20

The Giles County E-911 Board voted unanimously to approve the motion to transfer $24,900 to the county for the emergency communications project.
In a previous meeting, an issue in which the Sheriff's Department and Emergency Management System north repeaters was down due to litigation going on with the Fairview Water Tower.
The litigation has led to extended dead spots in the county for the past 18 months.
Giles County Fire and Rescue received three bids to put up the three additional repeaters, which includes one to replace the EMS device in the north as well as two to extend GCFR communications in both the north and the south.
The lowest bid came from Nashville Communications which offered to donate three repeaters and Pulaski Electric System offered a pole for the north repeater location.
According to the motion, the project cost is a one-time expenditure as maintenance and upkeep on the repeaters would become the responsibility of each organization.
Giles County Sheriff Kyle Helton added that while this would not solve all future emergency communications problems in the county, it was a key first step in addressing current needs.
"You've heard my concern about communications over this county, and this is not the full answer, but it's a step in the right direction," he said.
Concerns arose among board members over whether E-911 should have the sole responsibility for the project and whether the project would need to be rebid to be in line with state regulations.
County Executive Melissa Greene said that she did not believe an apples-to-apples comparison would be possible since only one company owned the donated repeaters, which accounted for the disparity in bids.
Greene added that because of the executive order privileges that she has currently been given by the state due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she would not need to wait until the next county commission meeting to approve the project.