Scott County officials seek to consolidate 911 centers

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County commissioners are seeking support for a regional 911 center.

Scott County commissioners and Sheriff Rick Walter met Friday with Sikeston Mayor Jerry Pullen and Department of Public Safety director Drew Juden to discuss finding an "avenue for consolidation" for area 911 call centers, Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger said during the county commission meeting Tuesday.

In Scott County, four centers take 911 calls: the Scott County E-911 Communications Center and municipal dispatching centers at Sikeston, Chaffee and Scott City.

"We feel here that we need to combine these centers," Burger said. "My thoughts are, we need to have one central hub and that needs to take in Scott County, New Madrid County, Mississippi County and Stoddard County."

The meeting Friday was one of many that will need to be held to "get something like this started," Pullen said. "Our next move will be to try to meet with New Madrid County and see how they feel about it. It is something that very well could happen -- and needs to happen. I think it would be a good thing for the area. We've talked about it for some time."

Commissioner Donnie Kiefer said Missouri is the only state that doesn't have a tax on wireless phone service to help fund 911 services.

With equipment upgrades and personnel costs exceeding the dwindling revenue from land-line phone service, Scott County is subsidizing the 911 center from its general revenue.

Burger said consolidation of call centers appears to be the answer.

"It's a long-range plan, but it's got to start somewhere. Everyone is seeing the same money crunch that we are," he said.

By combining the revenue from several 911 call centers, "I think we could have a viable center," Burger said. "I think that's where we need to be heading."

Burger said he thinks state officials might look favorably on the consolidation of call centers and be willing to make grant funding available to facilitate the plan.

Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn said local entities could "start the ball rolling" and serve as a model for other regions.

Other news

* County officials are hoping the latest methane readings from landfill gas well monitors will allow them to close the books on the old county landfill.

According to the readings taken by Aquaterra for the county on July 6, methane concentrations in soils along the property boundary ranged from 0 to 0.2 percent, which is below the Missouri Department of Natural Resources-mandated threshold of 2.5 percent.

The levels may need to be checked once more but "that's up to DNR," Kiefer said. "They'll let us know how long we need to do it. Hopefully they can give us a final closure on it."

The old landfill is on the north side of U.S. 61 just east of the U.S. 61-Highway 77 intersection north of Morley.

* Sales tax received by the county is up $27,417 as compared with this time last year, according to Ziegenhorn. "Almost half of that increase was in June alone," he said.

* The Board of Equalization opened today.

The board convenes annually to rule on appeals of property valuations set by the county assessor.

Appointments may be made with Teresa Houchin, Scott County assessor, to appear before the Board on Tuesdays or Thursdays until the Board closes for the year at 9 a.m. July 27.

* Commissioners reappointed Joy Cauthorn of Sikeston and Steve Whitaker of Chaffee to new five-year terms on the county's Enhanced Enterprise Zone board.

The terms expired July 11.