Jackson, county may consider merging dispatch centers

Officials from Cape Girardeau County and Jackson soon will begin exploring the possibility of consolidating their respective emergency-response dispatch centers into one.

Both the county commission and the Jackson Board of Aldermen passed motions last week approving an intergovernmental cooperation agreement so talks can begin.

Jackson city administrator Jim Roach said all that's been officially decided so far is the two parties will consider the prospect. The idea of consolidating county and Jackson emergency-services dispatch centers into one has been mentioned informally before.

Its potential came up during the city's discussions for its new emergency-services facilities.

City officials agreed about a year ago to build a new police station and upgrade its existing fire station.

All the city is doing about the new facility is obtaining preliminary design cost estimates, Roach said.

"We're still a ways out from taking our project to our voters," he said.

They still are trying to settle on a source of funding for the $8 million project, but if they can contract out their dispatch operations to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, it would free up more space in the new facility.

Roach said the construction plans still are in an early enough stage to adapt to whatever course the city and county takes.

County Commissioner Charles Herbst said the idea of consolidating the services has come up before but had not been pursued.

This time, he said, may be different.

"With any project there's pros and cons, but if the two would come together, you'd eliminate duplicate equipment," Herbst said. That would mean upfront cost savings on things such as computerized dispatch hardware and software, 911 answering equipment and recording equipment.

"The cost of equipment for these facilities is astronomical," Roach said.

Herbst said the radio equipment for the city of Jackson and the sheriff's department is approaching the point where it would need to be replaced anyway, which would make combining forces a more attractive prospect.

"That's a major expense," he said. "It's all the taxpayers' money in the county, so if we could reduce that by half, that would help."

Plus, there could be long-term savings to consolidation as well, Herbst said.

"You'd reduce the footprint for cost of upkeep and maintenance for two separate rooms," he said.

The sheriff's office has unused space next to its existing dispatch that might serve to house the expanded dispatch center.

With both sides seeing potential advantages, Roach said the idea seems to have gained momentum this time, but negotiations have not yet begun in earnest.

"We're not terribly far away from that," he said. "But we've spent some time on it just trying to fine-tune it, I guess."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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