Daviess County Central 9-1-1 had no sooner got a textcaster service up and running when they used it for the notification of two missing children and could have used it to report a third if necessary, according to Supervisor Dana Carder.
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The first incident happened in Lock Springs during April and the child was found quickly after the report was made to law enforcement. A second incident happened in Jamesport when a child went missing on June 5. That child was also found soon after the report was made.
"The children were not found as a result of the textcaster messaging," said Carder. "But we were able to notify the public shortly after the notification and arrival of numerous responding agencies."
Carder said those agencies included the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office, Gentry County Sheriff’s Office, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Jamesport Fire District, Gallatin Fire District, Lock Springs Fire District and the Daviess County Ambulance District.
A third child was reported lost and found in Gallatin over Memorial Day in so compact a time frame that textcaster service did not need to be used.
In all three cases, the children were found unharmed within a relatively short time period of being reported missing. The incidents involved children who had wandered off and were not the result of abductions.
Dan Lockridge, president of Farmers Bank, introduced the textcaster communication service to the Central 9-1-1 board at their meeting in March. Provided by Farmers Bank, textcaster includes the Daviess County Emergency Information Group. Nearly 500 citizens have signed up for the service.
Central 9-1-1 will now be able to message the community for Amber and Silver Alerts when definite information is available. Dispatchers will also be able to notify other textcaster members about the weather, power and water outages, and other community related information.
In other business at the March meeting, maintenance agreements for the generator and recorder were approved.
The county commissioners and sheriff’s office were planning on moving the sheriff’s office equipment out of the vault in the dispatch office.
During the April 28 meeting, the board heard that a loss control representative from the insurance company toured the office and found no issues that needed attention.
A follow-up letter was received from the Kansas City law office of Franke, Schultz and Mullen in reference to a recent request. No action had been received concerning the request.
The air conditioning unit in the vault that was used to cool all the 9-1-1 and radio equipment quit, and the unit in the office was also not running properly. The board agreed to install a more efficient system for around $3,200 as well as a new window unit.
Sandy Ward advised she had written Casey Guernsey about 9-1-1 funding. Casey responded and stated that Congress was working on making changes to 9-1-1 funding, including the possibility of implementation of a statewide cell phone tax.
At their meeting on May 26, the board heard that Central 9-1-1 will apply for a radio grant with Motorola providing the bid consists of two parts: (1) the state bid for the base stations, and (2) Motorola bid to move the base station from the attic of the courthouse to the vault in the 9-1-1 office.
The auditor would be in Friday, May 26, to review records. Carder was not going to be there as she had training for the new MULES system in St. Joseph on Friday. She left all the requested records in the vault for his review.
Dispatcher Jones was having issues with her insurance coverage. She and Mike Brown’s office are working to correct the matter.
Todd Watson wanted to confirm the IRA contributions and other salary/accounting issues were being handled. Supervisor Dana Carder advised that the IRA contributions had been made and there seemed to be no other problems at this time.