LINDEN &8212; An ongoing concern for the Marengo County Commission has been the functionality of the E-911 board, which was repopulated in December in hopes of getting the board functioning. This week, yet another change happened with a new appointment from Dr. Ken Tucker, commissioner for district 2.

Tucker recommended Steve Walters, who works with Tombigbee Emergency Medical Services, to replace Sylvan Mutschler. Mutschler resigned his position as chairman of the board last month.

According to Tucker, Walters brings both experience as a first responder and a high level of communication skills among peers.

With this new appointment, the board &8212; consisting of Bruce Baker, Carolyn Rogers, Mike Carlisle, Joseph Hudson, Ron Few and Carrie Rowser &8212; is expected to pick up meeting this month.

First on the list of concerns for the board the last time they were able to meet with a quorum, which was Feb. 19, was looking for new telecommunications locator system, known as ANI-ALI. Steve Brooks of Synergem has been working with the board since February 2006 on specifications for the equipment, but has yet to go any further with the project due to lack of a quorum.

Other priorities to be addressed by the board include updating map books to include up-to-date addressing information, more reliable transportation for the addressing equipment, reevaluation standard operating procedures and eventually raises for E-911 employees.