The Cole County Commission on Wednesday approved a request from Cole County Sheriff John Wheeler to pay for the county's portion of funding an upgrade at the Jefferson City Police Department's 911 Center.
In January, the commission planned to use $75,154 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds for an upgrade of the 911 mapping system by Solacom Technologies Inc., of Canada. Wheeler said the system would allow his officers to see from where calls are coming.
In June, JCPD officials announced they were considering changing their service from Solacom because the department was having issues with the company's customer service.
Wheeler told the County Commission on Wednesday that the city plans to switch to a company named Intrado when its contract with Solacom expires in November. Jefferson City has used Solacom for six years.
Wheeler told commissioners the total cost with the new provider would be $430,338. Since the Jefferson City 911 call center services all of Cole County for police, fire and EMS, the county would pay 25 percent of the expense or $107,559.
Wheeler said he didn't want to hold up the process of getting Intrado brought in so he suggested the county's portion could be paid out of his department's contingency fund. He added it might be possible to get that money reimbursed through the federal American Rescue Plan for COVID-19 pandemic relief needs.
Auditor Kristen Berhorst said it would be best to have the county's relief funds adviser, BKD Accounting in Springfield, make sure this would qualify for ARP money. If it did, it would be the first ARP funds to be used by the county.
Cole County got its first half of the money from ARP in June when it received more than $7.5 million. The current estimate on the total ARP funding the county would be getting was $14.8 million.
"The CARES funding we had sent to the city for Solacom will have to be returned to us," Berhorst said. "We have talked to the state, and they are going to open up another reporting period for circumstances like this because we're not the only entity that has had this issue."
JCPD officials said Intrado would be the last piece in making the 911 center more connected with others in the area.
Boone County uses Intrado. If Intrado provides services at Jefferson City, Boone County - which uses Intrado currently - could send its 911 operators to Jefferson City if the Boone County system went down. Those 911 operators could log in with their credentials, and accept and direct Boone County officers.
The system would work in reverse if Jefferson City operators needed to go to Boone County. Moniteau and Gasconade counties also use Intrado.
Intrado offers a text-to-911 service, which the Jefferson City center has been working to roll out. Part of the delay with that effort, announced in 2019, has been making communication work with Solacom, JCPD officials said.
Before moving forward with the plan, it will need approval from the Jefferson City Council Committee on Public Safety before going to the full City Council.