E-911: VOTE MAY OCCUR IN NOVEMBER

Cape County voters may be asked in November to give their opinions on an "Enhanced 911" emergency system for the county.

The county's six-person, E-911 Committee, which was formed in February 1991, met with governmental leaders of the county Wednesday night to officially recommend that the county seek to establish a countywide E-911 system.

"Our committee has been a busy one," said Brian Miller, emergency coordinator for Cape Girardeau County and chairman of the E-911 Committee. "We have visited areas with the systems, we've looked into legal ramifications, we've talked with communications representatives and tonight, we're recommending that the County Commission consider our recommendations.

"We feel that the new system can be the biggest improvement of anything we can do to benefit every man, woman and child in the county," added Miller.

Although the total cost of the system is unknown at this point, Miller feels the fee will be no more than 15 percent of the monthly basic telephone rate.

"This would probably represent a maximum cost of approximately $1.35 a month for the average residential telephone, and about $3.45 for the average business telephone customer," said Miller. "That's a small fee for a service like this."

Miller said Missouri law states that a voter-approved user fee of up to 15 percent of the monthly basic telephone rate may be collected to provide necessary funding for an emergency 911 system.

"That fee may be collected for up to two years before actual implementation of the system," he said. "And, if we can get voter approval in November, we could get it on line within two years."

Leon Hardin, Southwestern Bell's manager of marketing for E-911 in Kansas City, explained the difference between a "standard" and "enhanced" system.

"The enhanced system increases the response time," said Hardin. "It takes three seconds for a call to be routed to the dispatcher, and within another three seconds, the telephone number and address of the person calling appears on a screen.

"This is important in situations where children may be calling for help and don't know the address, or in any situation in which a caller is unable to identify their location," he said.

In calls to the standard 911 system, the caller must give the address to the dispatcher, said Hardin.

Miller said the E-911 Committee had recommended three primary answering points within the county the sheriff's department, Jackson Police Department and Cape Girardeau Police Department. It was also recommended that a secondary answering point be provided at the Cape Girardeau County Private Ambulance Service.

Richard Knapp of the Jackson Police Department, and a member of the committee, said he has received many calls from people concerning the lack of a 911 system at Jackson.

"We've been studying a system for Jackson," he said. "But, the countywide system would be a great tool for all the people in the county," he said. "It's designed to help people in emergency situations."

Cape Girardeau already has a standard 911 system.

Cape County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep said there should be ample time to get the issue on the ballot for the November 5 election. The request must be submitted to the county clerk by Sept. 10.

"The committee has been thorough in its work," said Huckstep. "It has already made arrangements for its campaign programs."

The committee is composed of Miller, Knaup, Juanita Henley and Carl Kinnison, both of the Cape Girardeau Police Department; Randy Welker, Jackson Fire Department; and Leonard Hines, Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.

The committee recommended that the program be administered by a seven-person board.

"Our recommendation would be that the initial board be appointed with the consent of the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau, by the county commissioners, with subsequent boards to be elected," Miller said.

Among the crowd of about 100 people who attended the 7 p.m. session at the Holiday Inn were representatives of four communications companies that offer Enhanced 911 systems. The representatives Craig Felzien of Southwestern Bell, Steve Rhodes of EmergiTech, Alan Branson of Positron and David Willis of Motorola explained their systems.

Other speakers at the meeting included committee members and Bob Gowen, assistant prosecuting attorney of Cape County.