The DeSoto County (Miss.) Emergency 9-1-1 District Commission approved a tentative fiscal 2015 budget of $840,870 in expenditures that helps prepare the way for a $9 million radio revamp, but members also noted something priceless: flawless first-response dispatch and communications service during the Sept. 11 storm and flooding.

“Everything performed great, there were no problems, no failures,” said Commissioner Chris Shelton, Southaven’s director of information technology and emergency communications. “We were able to hear and monitor traffic with all the agencies that sent help, and even patch some channels together to aid law enforcement.”

The commission oversees the district’s four 9-1-1 towers and five dispatch centers.

Amid fast-rising floodwaters fed by heavy rains, police, firefighters and the U.S. Coast Guard rescued residents by boat at the Savannah Creek Apartments in Southaven and at subdivisions in the Colonial Hills and Plum Point areas. Dozens of stranded motorists also were aided.

The budget that was endorsed this week goes to the county Board of Supervisors for final approval. The governing panel’s next session is Oct. 6.

“We pretty much cut wherever we could,” said commission chairman Bill Dahl. “It’s basically no frills, just operational needs.”

Shelton, on the 9-1-1 budget committee, said the package “takes into consideration the ongoing radio project” in which the district plans a new communications setup “to increase capabilities and interoperability” with other systems. “We’ll be building a system that will integrate with MSWIN,” the Mississippi Wireless Information Network, said Shelton.

Summing up a September operations report from contractor Integrated Communications, district deputy director James Powell noted some glitches, “but nothing catastrophic.” There was loss of a microwave link at the Olive Branch site that caused dispatch positions to go down, but this was quickly addressed with a spare Aurora microwave radio, he said.

In other matters, the commission approved $71,109 in monthly expenses.