SEVEN APPOINTED TO COUNTY 911 ADVISORY COMMITTEE

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission Monday appointed seven people to serve on an advisory committee to oversee implementation of the Enhanced 911 emergency telephone system that voters approved Nov. 5.

Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep said the appointments were made after conferring with Jackson City Administrator Carl Talley and Cape Girardeau City Manager J. Ronald Fischer. The commission named two members from each city, two to represent the county, and one at-large member.

Named from the county were Brian Miller, director of the county's Emergency Operations Center, and Leonard Hines, chief deputy of the sheriff's department; appointed from Cape Girardeau were Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the police department and Mark Hasheider of the fire department; and named from Jackson were Lt. Richard Knaup Jr. of the police department and Randy Welker, assistant fire chief.

Appointed as the at-large member was Allan Moss, a former assistant Cape Girardeau city and county prosecutor, and now an assistant attorney general assigned to the Jackson office.

"I think we have a good group of individuals who will help us select and implement a top-quality system that will serve all resident of Cape Girardeau County equally," said Huckstep.

State law that allowed voters to approve a tax on their telephone bills to fund a 911 system gives the county commission the authority to appoint an advisory committee; however, all decisions on the system ultimately rest with the commission.

Members of the committee and the county commission will meet with Charles Bonney and Carolyn Stevens, from the St. Louis office of Southwestern Bell Telephone at 10 a.m. Friday in the county commission's chambers to get organized.

"This will be kind of an informational meeting on how this will function," said Huckstep. The procedure for having the charges assessed on phone bills will also be finalized at the meeting.

A tax will be placed on the basic telephone rate of customers in Cape County for up to two years to cover the nearly $1 million cost of purchasing and installing the 911 system. For most residential customers, the cost will not exceed $1.35 a month.

After the system is paid for, then a reduced charge will continue to maintain the system.

Huckstep said after the meeting with the telephone company officials that he anticipates the advisory committee will meet to elect officers and get organized.

"At this meeting we will be switching from an investigative committee to an implementation committee and assume the formal responsibilities of administering the 911 system on behalf of the county commission," explained Miller, who served as chairman of the committee that studied the idea of a countywide 911 system and worked for its passage.

Miller said the 911 system should be in place within 18 to 24 months.

Presently, only citizens of Cape Girardeau have a 911 system. The system is considered out of date and does not provide the kind of information the enhanced system will, such as the telephone number and address from where the call is being made.

In appointing the committee, Huckstep said the commission made no final decisions on the length of terms of members and would attempt to work that out later.