ISSUES GET BALLOT TEST TUESDAY; VOTE TARGETS 911 SYSTEM EXPANSION

JACKSON - Brian Miller remembers well the charge given his committee last January by Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep.

Miller, who is director of the county's Emergency Operations Center, was named to head a six-member committee to investigate the possibility of providing a countywide Enhanced-911 emergency telephone service.

"We were told by Commissioner Huckstep to search for a state-of-the-art system where we could get the best system possible for the money; and that the system serve every citizen of the county equally, no matter where they lived," Miller said.

"We've accomplished that mission."

The committee reported its findings to the county commission and the city councils of Cape Girardeau and Jackson in July, and in September the commission voted to put the issue before voters.

County citizens Tuesday will decide whether to have the $950,000 purchase and installation cost of the system assessed to their basic monthly phone rates.

The city of Cape Girardeau has had a 911 system since 1973, but its system lacks the technology now available for emergency phone service. The city of Jackson and the out-county areas don't have 911 service.

"I was very impressed with the in-depth investigation that they did," said Huckstep. "The committee worked real hard and did a heck of a job seeing what other places had done and trying to find out what would work best for our county."

Miller said the committee did not take its job lightly. "This system will affect every person in this county. it has got to be right," he said.

"No one on the committee ever took this responsibility lightly. We are quite comfortable with what we have done."

Under the system, calls in Cape and Jackson would go to the police departments there, while 911 calls from outside the cities would go to the Sheriff's Department in Jackson.

Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, who is the public information officer for the 911 Committee, said some people in Cape Girardeau are asking why they need to vote for a 911 system when the city already has one.

"We don't have the 911 system that many people think we have," Kinnison explained. "We have just a basic 911 system.

"What people see on television programs is not what we have in Cape Girardeau. We have none of the new technology.

"The question is, `Are voters willing to support an increase in their telephone bill to pay for that technology and new system?' What was state of the art in 1973 when we got our system, is not any longer."

Kinnison said the primary difference in the enhanced system is that the address of the call's origin is displayed on the dispatcher's screen. It also indicates whether the call is coming from a residential, business, or pay telephone and the phone number so that a return call can be made for additional information.

Another component of the system is that special instructions for a phone number or address can be included in the computer. This could include directions on how to find a residence, any particular health problems a resident has, or whether a business has hazardous materials or anything else that might require special handling.

"As long as they can get to the telephone, they can get to emergency assistance, even if they are unable to speak," Kinnison said.

Also, with the touch of a button, the 911 operator can bring other agencies on line with the caller such as poison control centers, a drug or suicide crisis line, or hospital emergency room.

Kinnison pointed out that about 24 cities or counties in the state presently have an E-911 system.

If the measure passes Tuesday, state law allows for up to a 15 percent tax on telephone bills for emergency telephone service. Miller said that in two years the charge will accrue enough money to retire the entire cost of the system in addition to installation and implementation costs.

Miller said none of the money will be used to hire people, because there already is sufficient staff in the two cities and county to operate the system.

"We will essentially use the same people we have today," he said. "The costs involved are directly related to the hardware and network."

Kinnison said the 15 percent charge is applied to the basic monthly phone rate and doesn't include any taxes, long distance calls, or billings for other services.

"For someone with a single residential phone line, this charge would be not more than $1.35 a month," he said. "For some customers in the county, their fee would be less than that."

For businesses, the fee would be based on the basic monthly business rate.

Once the initial system is paid for, the fee will be reduced considerably, said Kinnison, to provide only enough money to keep the system operational.

"There will always be a fee for Enhanced 911," he said. "But it just will be substantially less than $1.35."

Huckstep said he believes the merits of an improved emergency phone system far outweigh the minimal costs.

"People should really take a serious look at this," he said. "It is a critical project that will affect practically everyone in the county at one time or another. The faster the response time in an emergency the better the chances.

"So many times, people in the excitement give bad information in an emergency, and this will take care of that.

"Nobody wants to pay more taxes, but if any issue on the ballot deserves serious consideration, it is this," added Huckstep. "Basically, it deals with human lives Sooner or later, it will affect all of us."

If the E-911 issue passes, the county commission will appoint a seven-member advisory committee to seek proposals for the system. The group will oversee installation and implementation of the system and its overall operations.

Huckstep said the new advisory committee could include the present committee members, but he wants to get input from the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson before making a final decision.

Besides Miller and Kinnison, other committee members include Juanita Henley, of the Cape Police Department; Randy Welker, assistant fire chief in Jackson; Lt. Dick Knaup, of the Jackson Police Dept.; and Leonard Hines, chief deputy of the sheriff's department.

Huckstep said the commission would meet with Jackson City Administrator Carl Talley and Cape City Manager J. Ronald Fischer to discuss the matter.

"We don't want to ever lose sight of the fact that this is a joint effort between the two cities and the county," said Huckstep. "But right now, the only question is, `Do the people want it?'"