SCOTT, NEW MADRID E-911 VOTE NOV. 8

Voters in Scott and New Madrid counties will be asked to approve a 15 percent surcharge to establish an Enhanced-911, emergency telephone system for the two counties.

Members of a steering committee set up by the two county commissions said the issue will be placed on the Nov. 8 election ballot.

An E-911 system would allow dispatchers to instantly call up on a computer screen the telephone number and address from which the person is calling in an emergency. The technology allows for faster response of police, fire and ambulance services, particularly when callers are unable to speak, can't remember, or are confused about their location.

Establishment of the system could include a single center in Sikeston that would handle dispatching duties for ambulance, police, fire and sheriff's departments in both counties. Sikeston encompasses land in both Scott County and neighboring New Madrid County.

Steering committee members said there are about seven different options, which have been proposed by a consulting firm.

One option calls for establishing a dispatching center in each county, with a third center in Sikeston.

"We could have an E-911 system with 14 dispatch centers," said Drew Juden, fire and communication division commander with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety.

"The only thing that happens, there are only so many eggs in this basket. The pie is only so big, and the more you cut it up the less you are going to be able to put in each dispatch center," said Juden, who serves on the six-member steering committee.

Mike Westrich of the New Hamburg, Benton and Commerce Fire Protection District also serves on the steering committee, which has studied the issue for several months. He said the most efficient system would be one with a centralized dispatching center.

Sikeston has a basic 911 system, which doesn't automatically identify the location of the caller as the E-911 system does.

"Sikeston has already figured out they want to get rid of dispatching. They want to give up their dispatchers and the headache and the liability that goes with it. It would be a savings to them," said Westrich.

If a centralized dispatching center were established in Sikeston, it would be run by a separate, two-county board. Sikeston would also fund a significant part of the cost of its operation, Westrich said.

"We are talking about 15 to 20 dispatchers," he said. Some of the larger agencies, such as Sikeston, could be assessed a yearly fee for dispatching.

But Juden said all the talk about dispatching centers means little unless voters approve the ballot measure.

Westrich said the surcharge on telephone service would raise an estimated $500,000 a year, which would be used to establish and maintain the system.

Much of the initial setup cost would be in the mapping of all the public and private roads, establishing addresses, and the purchase and installation of the communications equipment.

The cost of an E-911 system would amount to about $1.37 a month for the average, residential telephone customer, or about $16 a year.

Westrich estimated it could take two years to get the system in operation.

Committee members said that if voters in only one of the counties approve the surcharge, the system could be implemented just in that county. But they added that a two-county system would be preferable.