BOARD TELLS BELL: COLLECT TOLL FOR 911

PERRYVILLE -- The Perry County Commission has authorized Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. to start collecting the 15 percent surcharge on basic phone bills for the Enhanced 911 System.

Perry County Clerk Randy Taylor was to mail the paperwork Thursday to Southwestern Bell, which has 30 days from receiving the letter to start the collection.

Phone customers are now paying a 4 percent surcharge for the county's Basic 911 System. The increase to 15 percent on June phone bills means those in Perryville's 547-exchange will pay $1.01 more a month while those in other exchanges will pay an additional 83 cents a month.

Perry County voters approved the 15 percent surcharge in April by a 3-1 margin.

Presiding Commissioner Karl Klaus said one more person will be appointed to the county's 911 advisory board, which now has six members involved in emergency services. Klaus said the commission is waiting to hear whether its nominee will take the position.

Dan Bowman, Perry County chief deputy and an advisory board member, said the committee has to discuss priorities and set goals.

He said the advisory committee will wait for the seventh member before picking the board's leadership and what role the committee should take, advisory or an executive with its own agenda.

The committee decided the mapping project was a priority. This will include all areas of the county outside Perryville.

A committee will draw up a master map, or listing, with the boundary lines from the county's seven fire associations, and the information will be used to dispatch fire departments to 911 calls.

Calls outside Perryville will be answered by the sheriff's department and routed to the correct emergency response service. The county only has one ambulance service, which is based at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

The board also set up a committee to write bid specifications for a company to handle the mapping, and that committee planned to ask the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission for help in the bid specifications.