911 COMMITTEE IS ON TARGET

JACKSON - A seven-member committee appointed by the Cape Girardeau County Commission to implement an Enhanced-911 emergency telephone system is on target to have the system operating this fall.

"We are moving along nicely according to our timetable and should be up and running by the first of November," said Brian Miller, director of the county's Emergency Operations Center and chairman of the committee.

Voters in 1991 approved a tax on basic telephone rates to finance the system. For residents of the city of Cape Girardeau, the enhanced system will be a major improvement to what they have, but residents of Jackson and the outcounty do not have 911 service.

The tax will generate revenue to purchase the equipment and implement the system. At the end of this year it will be reduced to provide a source of funds for maintaining the system.

Recently, bids were opened for some of the equipment that will be needed for the system.

On Monday the committee recommended to the county commission that it purchase the basic hardware and terminal equipment from Motorola at a cost of about $316,000.

Bids for two other pieces of equipment are still being reviewed.

Terminals will be placed at the Cape Girardeau Police Department, the Jackson Police Department, and the Cape County Sheriff's office. A secondary answering position will be at the office of the ambulance service, so the dispatcher can make contact to put the service on the line with the caller.

"We have received several good bids and are pleased with what we have seen so far," said Miller.

He pointed out that the committee is basing its recommendations for awarding bids on both price and service factors.

Miller recalled that when Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep met with the committee the first time he said that he wanted state-of-the-art equipment and wanted to see that every citizen of the county was served equally.

"We promised him from the start, and the public, that it would be a good, solid system that would work, and that we could all be proud of," explained Miller. "That's where we are."

A major part of the process involves providing addresses for all residences in the county. In order to provide a quick response to 911 calls, a specific address needs to be shown on the computer screen.

The addressing process is being done in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service and should be done around the first of May. Once it is finished, post cards will be sent to outcounty residents advising them of what their new address is.