County commission OKs $1.7 million 911 upgrade

Upgrade will set stage for pinpointing cellular calls.

Cape Girardeau County will spend more than $1.73 million to upgrade its 911 emergency system. The improvements include computer equipment that will automatically display a map locating emergency calls made from land-line telephones.

The upgrade will also link together three dispatching centers and will set the stage for future improvements that would allow the mapping of emergency calls made on cellular phones, county officials said. While the proposed upgrade wouldn't be able to pinpoint a cellular customer's exact location, it would be able to locate the cellular tower that was transmitting the call. The new software would map the area served by each cell tower.

The upgrade will link computers in the dispatching centers in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson police stations and the county sheriff's department.

Dispatchers at all three law enforcement agencies will be able to call up computer information about a particular emergency, said David Hitt, director of Cape Girardeau County's emergency management office.

Commissioners on Monday readily approved the spending, which will come out of the 911 fund. The fund is supplied by telephone taxes.

The fund currently has a balance of about $2.4 million, Hitt said, and the county has been saving up money for the upgrade.

"We have known for years that we would have to do major upgrades," he said.

The 911 system has its own advisory board, but any contracts require approval by the county commission.

The county leases the 911 system at a cost of about $8,000 a month. Once improvements are made, the monthly cost is expected to climb to about $13,000, Hitt said.

Commissioners plan to sign a contract with SBC to make the computer hardware and software improvements.

The work is expected to start in mid- to late-August and could take a year to complete, said Terry McDermott, area manager of SBC's 911 public safety operations.

McDermott said the county will have to pay 50 percent of the cost upfront so SBC can purchase the equipment needed for the upgrade.

Commissioners said they prefer leasing the 911 system to owning it. "If it burns up, lightning hits it or a tornado blows it away, it's not our problem," said 1st District Commissioner Larry Bock of Gordonville.

Land-line telephone customers pay a tax on their basic service. As more and more people rely on cell phones -- about 50 percent of emergency calls are being made on cell phones -- Hitt worries that tax revenue to fund the 911 system will decline. He hopes the state eventually will tax cellular phone service to help fund the emergency system.

But for now, there's no shortage of funds.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123