OSAGE COUNTY — Osage County 911 is preparing to transition to Next Generation 911 service in September while continuing to work on mapping, dispatch software and emergency notification issues.

911/Emergency Management Director Ron Hoffman told the 911 Advisory Committee on Aug. 5 that the county remains scheduled to go live with NG911 in mid-September. Solacom, the county’s call-handling provider, has received all the equipment needed for the transition, and Hoffman said no additional expense is expected for the equipment.

The remaining issue is completing provisional boundaries for the new system. Hoffman said the county recently resolved a boundary problem involving Gasconade County and is working on boundaries for EMS, law enforcement and fire districts.

The NG911 system will change how calls from some areas near county borders are routed. Hoffman said calls currently received by Osage County because of the location of a cellular tower may instead be routed according to the GPS location associated with the caller’s address. That will affect calls from portions of the Ozark Central area, including areas in the Belle, Bland, and Vichy vicinity. Hoffman said he has been communicating with Maries County officials about establishing a process for medical calls that may be routed to Maries County under NG911 but are currently dispatched by Osage County 911 to Osage Ambulance District. The counties are working toward putting that arrangement into a memorandum of understanding.

Hoffman also reported that Osage County has apparently received a $50,000 grant to have its GIS data cleaned up for use with the NG911 system.

Hoffman had previously believed the grant money had been exhausted, but said he learned through the Heartland Group that Osage County received a grant for the GIS work. The grant apparently designated a company other than SDR as the contractor, however, and Hoffman said he was still trying to determine how the grant would affect work already being coordinated with SDR.

GIS data has been a continuing issue for the 911 center. Hoffman said the county has approximately 28 new addresses that need to be added to its mapping system, and the center is also working to incorporate addresses in neighboring counties that may be relevant to Osage County emergency responses.

EMS Chief Josh Krull suggested exploring whether Osage, Gasconade, and Maries counties could share a centralized source of GIS address information rather than maintaining separate systems. Hoffman said he had discussed sharing resources with officials in Maries County but did not know whether such an arrangement would be feasible.

The committee also discussed the county’s experience with severe weather and emergency alerts. The subject was raised by citizen member Steve Smyth.

A discussion about the July 31 tornado warning raised questions about how emergency notifications are delivered to residents in different parts of the county. Hoffman and other officials explained that National Weather Service warnings can cover an entire county even when the storm is concentrated in one portion of it.

Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Andi Rice said residents can use the National Weather Service website to view the warning polygon and determine whether their location is actually within the warned area. Committee members also discussed wireless emergency alerts and Smart911 notifications, including how residents can check their phones to make sure emergency alerts are enabled.

Hoffman said the 911 center has conducted tests of its emergency notification system and has found that some residents do not have notifications enabled.

The center handled 6,173 calls for service during the quarter, according to Hoffman. There were no Text-to-911 calls during the period.

The center has continued testing its ability to exchange photographs through Text-to-911 and is using What3Words information available through RapidSOS to help identify locations when callers are in areas without conventional addresses. Hoffman said the system can be particularly useful when responders are trying to locate someone in a field or other rural area.

Hoffman reported that the county’s 911 and Emergency Operations Center administrative telephone lines have been converted to VoIP service. He said AT&T has offered to deploy a mobile communications unit during major outages or severe weather. The unit, described as a “communications on wheels” tower, or COW, would provide cellular service when local infrastructure is damaged.

The agency also recently participated in the Osage County Fair’s Kids’ Morning Out, where staff displayed 911 and emergency management information, provided educational materials and demonstrated scenarios involving floods, tornadoes, train derailments, and other emergencies.

During new business, the board discussed adding dispatcher Cody Hoelscher as a telecommunicator representative to the advisory committee. Hoffman said Hoelscher has worked for the county 911 center for four years and has been involved with CAD, IT, and radio-related duties.

Hoffman also reported that the county’s new records management system, CentralSquare, which connects the sheriff’s office, jail and 911 center, is still being implemented. The system allows information from an arrest to move between the deputy, jail and other portions of the system, although officials said they are continuing to work through issues following the recent launch.

Their next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., in the 911 conference room.