An agreement between Boone County and Jefferson City, which would allow their emergency services to answer each other’s 911 calls, will receive a vote next week.
The Boone County Commission passed the proposal during its first reading Thursday and will now vote on the agreement Tuesday April 25.
The agreement between the county and Jefferson City would, in emergency situations, allow 911 calls to be transferred to a backup center.
In the case of an evacuation of the Boone County call center, for example, all emergency 911 calls would be transferred to Jefferson City, ensuring no loss of service. Jefferson City would then by responsible for directing the emergency services’ response. The agreement covers police, fire and medical departments.
Director of the Boone County Joint Communications department, Chad Martin, said the partnership would be mutually beneficial.
“We reached out to them to develop this agreement,” he said. “There is very little extra cost and there are lots of benefits.” he said. “If either of us have to evacuate our primary 911 centers for any certain reason, or if there is simply a communication issue through our provider, we can use a switch to reroute the calls to the other center."
Earlier this month, while its phone lines were being upgraded, all of Boone County’s emergency calls were rerouted to Jefferson City. The partnership was successful and the plan to form an agreement was hatched.
Jefferson City has already passed its side of the deal and Martin says he thinks Boone County will make the same decision.
“I think it will be fine,” he said. “Jefferson City has executed it and since there’s very little minimal ongoing costs for the county there are way more benefits than there are costs. I don’t foresee any issues.”