Planned 911 dispatch merger sparks petition drive

The Perry County Commission signed an agreement Dec. 18 to merge 911 operations with St. Francois County over the objections of many local residents, law enforcement personnel and other first responders.
Now, those same objections have expanded into a petition seeking to put the issue to a public vote. In an effort to make that happen, opponents of the planned merger are circulating a petition seeking enough signatures to make an end run around the commission.
Among those leading the charge are current and former dispatchers, along with other local residents, law enforcement personnel and other first responders who say they still have unanswered questions.
“A lot of the things they are bringing up as far as this move consolidating city and county dispatch services was what we were expecting when we pushed everyone to vote for the tax increase for the joint justice center,” said Perryville dispatcher Kim Kimmell, who has been spending many of her off-duty hours helping to collect the necessary 937 signatures necessary to engineer a ballot initiative. “We wanted them to consolidate the two. We agreed this would be a good move for everyone in Perry County. We were all for it. They said in all of their letters and sales pitches that we are ‘stronger together’ and this tax would be a way to consolidate us. Now they are wanting to carve out one of the most vital components of communications for this county. Suddenly we are not ‘stronger together’ and we need to disband. Suddenly we do not need to shop local, but instead send hundreds of thousands of dollars out of our county, along with over a dozen skilled positions.”
Hoping to address community concerns before the final vote, commissioners — along with the Perryville Board of Aldermen — attempted to shed light on their decision-making process and the reasons they voted to make the move in a pair of joint letters to the community.
In the second letter, released the same day as the final vote, commissioners said they considered four different options before deciding to move forward with the plan.
“Merging our dispatch operations with [St. Francois County 911] was first considered in 2017 when the County ultimately decided to contract with SFC911 to utilize their back-end dispatch equipment,” they stated in the letter released Dec. 18. “At that time, user cell phone geo-location technology had not yet advanced to a point of reliability that community leadership found acceptable.
“Geolocation is now a NextGen911 universal standard aiding service providers enroute to emergencies. This option comes at the cost of $545,000, is the most cost effective and efficient option for the community which adheres to the state and national trends of merging dispatch departments. We have visited St. Francois County, met with their leadership team and users of the service, and are absolutely convinced this is a viable option for effective, efficient dispatch service to provide our citizens with the best available 911 services going forward.”
The commission stated it chose the merger option because they felt it would save the county residents money in the long run.
“Initially, there was much discussion about the possibility of asking the community to support a new tax, essentially designed to allow dispatch to remain local,” the letter stated. “We do not feel increased spending is the best solution for our community. Asking our community to support a new tax is something we take very seriously and have only pursued when there was no other viable option to support a community project.
“At this point, the truth is simple, we believe we can do better with the money you have already entrusted us with, and we can use it to provide improved resources and advanced technology. Looking to the future is the solution. The option of merging with SFC911 also allows us to incur annual savings, and in turn, invest those resources in other critical services for our community. SFC911 has requested 12 months to fully prepare for our integration and, in the coming weeks, we will enter into an agreement to fully integrate into their dispatch operations.”

Advocates for keeping 911 services local hope that the planned ballot initiative — which would include a new tax — would allow 911 services to remain local. All signatures had to be turned in by Jan. 2 and verified as registered voters of Perry County who are in good standing. That verification process must be completed by Jan. 23 for the measure to be placed on the April 2 ballot.
Organizers worked with the county clerk’s office to ensure that the petition was prepared in an acceptable legal format.
Before reaching a decision on the planned merger, which wouldn’t take effect for 12 months, commissioners met with experts in the field, along with representatives of local law enforcement, but Kimmel said she felt those most directly affected weren’t sufficiently heard.
“They have never, to this day, asked any dispatcher about what we do, what we think, why we think it, etc. They have told us that we should leave it to the professionals, because apparently those of us (mostly women) with college degrees who do this job daily are not the professionals here.” Kimmell said. “Our desk sergeant, who is also a dispatcher, has 35 years of experience in this profession. Wouldn’t she have insight she could share?”
Perry County Sheriff Jason Klaus said he was disappointed in the decision to merge the local 911 dispatch, especially when it comes to his officers and deputies and their relationship with dispatch personnel.
“We met with all of the communication officers and advised them of the potential resolution that was first read last week and obviously just signed here just a few minutes ago. And as far as their voice and what they want, obviously it’s extremely disappointing on behalf of the employees that we currently have in those roles,” Klaus said during the meeting Dec. 18. “We listened. I heard them. We also looked at what the future may bring. And we talked about the deficiencies that we know in our current system. Again, it’s a major issue for us. It affects every single thing that we do at the sheriff’s office. Everything that we do starts with dispatch, almost everything that does so. So those voices, obviously, and the concerns moving forward or of highest priority to me at this point, almost above anything else.”
Kimmell said she felt some of the reasoning used by commissioners didn’t make sense.
“They keep saying the move to St. Francois County would eliminate duplication of dispatch and mean no longer transferring calls between the two agencies. That is what would have happened had they did what they said they were going to initially do by moving dispatch to the joint justice center. They say it will keep us from having to have two separate systems, etc. Again, that is what was supposed to happen.
“Don’t sell those things as if it would be a new concept. That’s why we voted for the tax for the justice center. We wanted that here. We were told we were getting that here.”
Kimmell asked for more transparency on the issue and hopes have better answers from the commissioners and others in the future.
“There is a national shortage of dispatchers across the country,” Kimmell said. “St Francois County’s central dispatch is understaffed already. They cannot keep new hires, according to the dispatchers that we have spoken to there. Us dispatchers were told by the commissioners that we can apply for any of the new dispatchers that they will need when they take on Perry County’s entities. In order for us to accept those jobs, we would be driving over an hour one way to work for $5 less per hour, and until enough seniority is garnered, we would be on straight midnights. Or we would have to sell our homes and move there.”