Scott County Rural fire district ends contracts with other fire districts

BENTON, Mo. -- Changes by the Scott County Rural Fire Protection District will mean some adjustments at the Scott County E-911 Communications Center and for other emergency service agencies within the county.

Joel Evans, emergency management director for the county, updated county commissioners on the changes during their regular meeting Tuesday.

Evans said that before April 1, the Scott County Rural Fire Protection District contracted with four other fire departments for services in parts of their district: the Miner fire department for the area north of Miner; the Morley Fire Department for the area south of Morley; the Vanduser Fire Department for the area immediately around Vanduser; and the Oran Fire Protection District for the area just south of Oran.

This change will require mapping database changes at the E-911 Communications Center "so we know to dispatch based on this new protocol," Evans explained. "It will take a little time to get those changes made."

Evans said it will take until about July 1 to get emergency service number data updated.

A Scott County Rural building that county emergency management was renting from the fire district will have to be vacated within the next 30 days, Evans said.

"They're going to need to reoccupy that building," he explained.

"We completely understand their need for the building."

The building has been used to store the county's Community Emergency Response Team trailer, mass care equipment and emergency communications trailer, Evans said.

The building was also used as a training center for CERT, amateur radio operators and the Scott County Search and Rescue K-9 Unit.

Evans said the most economical solution for storing those trailers and supplies would be to erect a shelter at the county highway department complex.

"It's a fenced area," he noted, "so that would give us a secure storage area for our equipment."

The complex does not have facilities for training, however. "We'll have to regroup to figure out the best way to go forward without disrupting those training opportunities," Evans said.

In other business, the county's sales tax receipts for the year are up, Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn noted, at $812,101.54 from the half cent sales tax for general revenue as compared with $795,471.44 received at this time last year.