New contract lowers county's 911 expenses

Cape Girardeau County’s 911 system phone bill will be cut by about half starting next month.

“Our bill is probably going to go from 11 grand a month down to five or six thousand a month,” said Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Charlie Herbst, who, along with other members of the County Commission, approved a new three-year 911 telephone service contract with AT&T during Thursday’s commission meeting.

The new contract eliminates some lines and services that became unnecessary after the county and the City of Jackson consolidated their 911 emergency dispatch centers earlier this year.

The new contract includes an 88% savings in trunk line expenses, which will go from about $5,000 to $578 a month. That’s a savings of more than $53,000 a year in line fees alone.

“Originally, the 911 trunk lines came to Cape County and then were distributed to the City of Jackson and the City of Cape Girardeau,” Herbst said. “But now, we’ve consolidated dispatches within the City of Jackson and the county, so over the past few months, we’ve been diligently working with AT&T to try to figure out which lines we needed and which ones we don’t, and we’re at the point now we can eliminate those lines.”

In a related action Thursday, the County Commission approved a resolution commending Edie Davis, who is retiring after 18 years as one of the county’s 911 dispatchers.

“She has been a calm voice on the other end of the phone during 911 emergencies throughout her career,” Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said.

CARES Act

In other business Thursday, the County Commission approved a Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act payment of $982,249 to the Cape Girardeau County treasury to reimburse the county for coronavirus-related expenses the county has incurred since March.

The commissioners also approved payments to several organizations in anticipation of unbudgeted expenses related to COVID-19 between March 1 and Dec. 1. Those payments, subject to submission of receipts and invoices, include:

• Up to $10,000 to the Community Partnership of Southeast Missouri for coronavirus-related unbudgeted temporary housing.
• A maximum of $10,000 to Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri for unbudgeted COVID-related rental assistance for residents of Cape Girardeau County.
• Up to $50,000 to the Safe House for Women for unbudgeted COVID-related housing expenses.
• Up to $202,000 to the Cape Girardeau School District for additional coronavirus-related expenses.
• A maximum of $4,300 to the Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for purchase of three laptop computers to be used by staff working remotely due to coronavirus.
• Up to $1,100 to Emanuel United Church of Christ in Jackson for purchase of personal protective equipment.

While nearly all of Cape Girardeau County’s $9.2 million CARES Act fund has been allocated, only about $4 million has been disbursed to date. The final amount of the county’s disbursement will depend on receipts turned in by organizations that have requested reimbursements.

“If they’re not able to spend it, it goes back into the pot,” said Commissioner Paul Koeper. “We’ll keep massaging (the disbursements) until we get to December, but we’re still within the $9.2 million.”

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