Scott County narrows down choices for 911 services

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sikeston city and Scott County officials will soon come to a decision on a proposed merger of 911 dispatching services.

Figures that should represent a "worst-case scenario" for the cost to merge 911 services were presented by Sikeston Department of Public Safety director Drew Juden to a group of city and county officials during a special meeting Tuesday.

Officials are now determining which single vendor has the best bid so they can have a firm cost to present to the city council and county commission at 4 p.m. April 2. City and county officials agreed to be ready April 9 to make a decision on the proposed consolidation.

"We won't be able to adhere to anyone's purchasing policy," Juden said of the selection process.

"We went through about 12 to 15 vendor presentations on their 911 solutions for consolidation," he said. "We have narrowed it down to four companies."

As one of those four has previously indicated they can't meet the deadline proposed by Juden, there may only be three left to compare.

"We're on a very, very, very short timeline," he said. "We're going to have to make sure they can make those dates."

Juden said DPS is slated to take possession of its new building on July 28 and based on that advised vendors the 911 system would need to be installed by the "end of July to the middle of August."

The plan is to have the new system ready to go in the new building at that time so dispatching could be turned off at Scott County and the old DPS headquarters as the new one is turned on.

"We're going to have to be very cautious about moving forward from here. But the sooner the better," Juden said.

The county's current 911 system is by a company that has systems in use at several small communities but those entities are "generally less than happy with the services they supply," Juden reported.

The city's 10-year-old 911 system was upgraded almost five years ago and is by a company that has changed hands several times since the original purchase, he said.

"They don't even make our current system anymore," Juden said. "They don't offer any upgrades or solutions to what we have now."

Juden said the figures he presented used the highest estimate of the four selected vendors based on a consolidated communications center with six dispatchers.

"We think it's going to be six; we're not really sure," he said. "We may find out we can do it on four, we may be able to do it on five."

Six dispatchers was a good number to use in coming up with figures based on the number of calls historically handled by both of the agencies now, DPS Capt. Ken Dicus said.

The estimate for the overall cost for a consolidated communications center is a total of $1,979,568.84 for the first year including personnel costs.

The total annual cost after the first year is predicted to be $893,750.84.

The city's share of that first year would be $976,903.50 after which the annual cost would be $515,142.

The first-year cost for the county was projected to be $1,102,931.87 with an annual cost thereafter of $416,469.72.

City Manager Doug Friend said the consolidation agreement would likely consist of the county committing to a five-year contract for services from the city which would be renewed for another five years.

In order for the consolidation to work, the county needs to upgrade radios so they can work on the Missouri Statewide Interoperable Network, the state radio network Sikeston DPS joined as part of a pilot program.

The cost is expected to be about $800 per radio.

"And we're looking at grant money to help fund that," Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said.

"There may be something we missed but there's no hidden costs," Juden said. "We spent a lot of time talking to these vendors.

If a cost was missed, "I don't think it will be anything major that would change these numbers a lot," he said.

The county's share does include an additional percentage over cost as suggested by a member of the City Council which Jamie Burger, presiding county commissioner, said he objects to.

Burger also asked if the communication center would be able to bring in additional agencies.

"Our situation with the new building is that we have room now for five dispatch positions," Juden said.

Alterations to the building would be needed to accommodate any additional dispatchers, he said.

City officials indicated they are ready to proceed with the consolidation if approved but can go another two to four years before upgrading the city's 911 system if the City Council votes it down or if the County Commission decides against the merger.

Pertinent address:

Sikeston, MO