The Jefferson City Council voted 10-0 this week to spend nearly $293,000 to upgrade the 911 emergency system's recording and radio dispatching equipment.
The Cole County Commission in July approved funding 25 percent, or almost $71,000, of the planned upgrades.
The funds for the city's portion of the project will come from the city's half-cent capital improvement sales tax. City voters last month approved a five-year renewal of that tax.
Debbie Malzner, Cole County's finance director, told the News Tribune on Wednesday the county already has paid its share with a $70,884.70 check dated Aug. 31.
That payment - along with last year's $68,466.77 county share of the telephones project - was "split in half, with 50 percent out of the EMS sales tax and 50 percent out of CH Capital Improvement," Malzner said.
She said county officials have had a "long discussion about phase 3 being split out of EMS sales tax and the law enforcement sales tax, as we currently split the monthly cost between these two funds. The 911 calls are either the sheriff's or EMS calls."
Malzner said a decision on that funding likely will be made "when we receive the (city's) invoice for phase 3."
Police Chief Roger Schroeder reminded the City Council on Tuesday the new equipment purchases and installation are steps two and three of an upgrading process begun last year, with an upgrade of the telephone system itself.
Police Capt. Eric Wilde said the radio upgrades include hardware and software that pushes the radio transmission from the antenna to the console where operators sit. Wilde said the software allows for touch-screen abilities for each frequency, as well as the ability to patch channels together, which would allow different agencies to communicate on the same frequency during an emergency situation.
"If we're monitoring two frequencies and we want to take two agencies and push them over to a common talk channel, we can just patch those two frequencies together," Wilde said. "Basically, it will allow us to talk to other agencies."
Currently, agencies have to switch frequencies or relay information through the communication center when working together.
Cole County Sheriff Greg White said the ability to communicate directly through patching channels is a huge development for 911 communications.
That kind of communication improvement has been a law enforcement issue at least since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., when some responding agencies had trouble communicating with others during critical situations.
As for the recorder upgrades, Wilde said those will record all phone and radio transmissions as required by state law.
Wilde said now that funds have been collected, the project will be ready to go once the paperwork is processed, which could take a couple of months.
Once the upgrading work begins, Wilde said, it likely will take about a month to train employees on the new programs.
Fourth Ward Councilman Glen Costales wanted Schroeder to emphasize the new money pays for improvements at both the main 911 center in the Police Department, 401 Monroe St., and the backup center at the new Fire Station 3 on Missouri 179, just north of the Industrial Drive-Truman Boulevard intersection.
Wilde said the project will begin at the 911 center at Fire Station 3.
Once that work is completed, operators will be trained at that facility while work begins at the main 911 center at the Police Department.
It won't be the first time 911 communications is temporarily moved to the backup center at Fire Station 3. Wilde said communications had to be moved there when the Police Department was undergoing HVAC upgrades last year, and communications continued to work without issues.
"In case of an emergency or things like this, where we have to move people out of the main center, it is an absolute necessity for continuity of operations," Wilde said.
Bob Watson of the News Tribune contributed to this article.