OSAGE COUNTY — Osage County’s 911 Advisory Committee met in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) on Wednesday, Feb. 7. Seating required a little more selectivity, though, as crates of telephone equipment had been opened and strewn around the furniture. Although inconvenient, members were reassured that the planned updating of the 911 Call Center’s phone system was well underway. Solacom, Inc., of Downers Grove, Ill., the EOC’s phone system provider, was on site and working hard to install the new hardware. “They’ve got a guy here, and he’s working his head off,” said Osage County 911/EMA Director Ron Hoffman.

He continues to enjoy good staff stability and efficiency. There’s been next to no recent turnover to his crew of 13. “We’re as happy as you could ever be with staff,” Hoffman said. “We’ve got the greatest crew in the world.”

Allyson Rackers has been promoted to Assistant Training Activity Coordinator (TAC). She joins TAC Savana Atkisson, supervising the crew’s training, work that continues to be successful. Atkisson’s quarterly report showed some reduced compliance early, but the numbers rebounded to better than ever in January. She reported for the year that three of the months fully met Accredited Center of Excellence (ACE) accreditation standards, the best annual performance for Osage County since the installation of ProQA software by Priority Dispatch Corp. of Salt Lake City, Utah. International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) awarded the accreditation. “I’m excited about that,” said Atkisson.

“That’s awesome,” said Osage Ambulance District Administrator Josh Krull.

“Congratulations,” added Osage County Presiding Commissioner Darryl Griffin.

ProQA software was due for an update. Atkisson discovered the contract called for a ProQA administrator to visit and help. “We got a whole day from them and took full advantage of it,” she said. “We are now up to date.”

The call center fielded 3,347 calls during the last quarter. Dispatchers also covered for Gasconade County for a day and a half while that center struggled with a lightning strike. Maries County calls came to Osage for about five hours recently while they fought a power outage. “Everything went smoothly,” said Hoffman. “That tickles me because they’re there for us.”

Atkisson reported calls during all of 2023 were up by 223 over 2022. “Our medical calls are increasing quite a little bit,” she added.

Hoffman, Atkisson, and Rackers continue to insist the crew is getting better at what they do. “We’re always trying to improve it,” he said. “They got a raise.”

Reports indicate that was very much appreciated.

“Thank you for budgeting and getting that in there for them,” said Meta Fire Chief Kenny Helton. “I think that will help.”

“Thank your staff for all their hard work,” added Griffin.

“It’s a team effort,” Hoffman concluded.

Hoffman continues to be impressed with the new Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) program recently purchased from SomaGlobal, Inc., of Tampa, Fla. It does many things the old CAD never could do, but there are a few things the old one did they haven’t figured out yet how to get out of the new system. “We’re getting better,” said Hoffman. “It’s a learning curve for us.

Global Information System (GIS) Coordinator Richard Jones announced the new Osage County GIS mapping project has been completed. Similar projects for Gasconade and Maries districts that Osage County 911 dispatches are also done. Jones is still doing some mapping for mutual aid agencies with which the county works. The new Emergency Management System map is loaded and live on the new CAD.

The next meeting of the advisory committee is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.