The ball is

back in the county's court, according to Senoia Mayor

Joan Trammell, for funding 911 service for Senoia and

Grantville.

Last June,

Senoia residents learned it would cost the city nearly

$100,000 for radio dispatch service for the city's police

officers to use.

The city

learned Coweta County would no longer supply service for

free and the city would have to find an alternative for

the police force to phone in field reports, such as

drivers' license and tag checks.

"With

the increase in calls, the county is saying they would

have to hire at least five more employees," said

Police Chief Ben Thomas.

It's not

emergency phone calls to the county emergency 911 system

that are the problem, Thomas said. It's all the radio

calls generated from the officers, such as running tags

and plugging into the GCIC computer, he said.

The county

was originally scheduled to stop the service in July, but

Mayor Joan Trammell said the city was given until January

to figure out a solution.

But Monday

night, Trammell said the city had studied all the options

and could not find the funding to start its own system.

Starting

its own system might make sense, since the city could

rotate officers to man the radio, but Trammell said a

costly computer is needed to tie into the main system at

the state level.

"The

CAD system costs $150,000. This is not something we were

anticipating," she said.

The city is

currently in the middle of building a municipal sewer

system and Trammell said the money simply is not in the

budget.

The mayor

also said if Senoia started its own radio system that it

might be in violation of House Bill 489, which calls for

cities and counties to work together to prevent a

duplication of services.

Trammell

said she would be glad to meet with the county's leaders

at any time to discuss the issue.