07/31/2026
I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has signed the Scotland County E-911 Emergency Services Board petition so far.
I also would like to take a minute to clear up some information. The Scotland County Commission received a grant about 2 years ago for the E-911 system. The grant paid for obtaining the equipment and establishing the service in Scotland County. As the service started progressing it was noted to have some issues for all emergency services (all 3 fire departments and EMS) in the county. Some people started asking questions about why it was not working as planned. A couple of individuals started looking into the situation. It was found that we did not receive all the equipment we were supposed to get in the grant. This equipment was suppose to allow for a backup way of paging EMS and fire during emergencies or busy times when our local dispatch was not able to. The backup dispatch was suppose to be Macon County as we use some of their back room servers. Based off of that little information that was known at the time a quote had been obtained for obtaining that equipment. The quote was roughly $80,000 for that equipment at the time. The ambulance district board then asked about training of the dispatchers since the county was using 911. There was no specific 911 training that had been done which is required by Missouri state statute. This nationally recognized training would mean the dispatchers would be certified as 911 telecommunicators by the APCO. As time progressed there continued to be situations where the system would not work at times when residents called 911. Some calls would roll over to Macon County, some calls just did not roll over at all. This was noticed by the ambulance district board as residents were calling the ambulance base requesting an ambulance. When asked to call 911 for the ambulance to be dispatched we were told that they had called but did not get any answer. When dispatch was asked about this the board was told that they did not receive the call. This was very concerning as seconds count when it’s a life or death situation. The district then reached out to legal to see if there was a way to obtain the equipment that was needed. We were advised that since it was a grant there isn’t much anyone could do at this point since a couple of years had passed. The district looked into the equipment issue again. This time the equipment had almost doubled in price as parts had already become obsolete as things had progressed to NG911 with text to 911 and other add ons. The district with this information then went back to legal and asked what his next suggestion would be. That is when he suggested forming the Scotland County E-911 board. The district then started looking into this plan. This board is initially established by Missouri state statute. It is a 7 panel board. The 7 people include the fire department, ambulance districts, sheriff's department, municipalities, any other emergency services and the general public. After the initial board at the next election those members will be replaced by individuals that run for a seat on the board. 3 would be from the western district, 3 would be from the eastern district, and 1 member at large. This board is regulated by statues 190.300 to 190.340. The ambulance district then asked about how it would be funded. It was suggested after much discussion to set a sales and use tax. This is where the 1% came from. The statutes allow for a max ceiling of 1% which can be adjusted down or up yearly depending on budget projections by the 911 board. The sales will never be allowed to go over the 1%. It was also discussed that with a sales tax it covers all of the individuals that come to Scotland County and not solely the responsibility of the property owners or residents of the county as the 911 systems is utilized by everyone that comes through the county. I did speak with the commissioners that advised they have had to pay for some other services already that was supposed to be covered by the grant which has not been. I was advised that other grants had also been applied for and not obtained. Legal was then again contacted and advised that a countywide petition was needed. The petition would need to be signed by 10% of the county voters from the last governor election. The math figured out to be 187 signatures. The district elected to do 200 signatures to get it on the November 2026 ballot. The money from the sales tax will be used to obtain all equipment for the dispatch center, get all agencies updated with communications equipment to be able to communicate with dispatch, services to provide pre arrival instructions for medical emergencies, train dispatchers to national standards, supplement dispatcher salaries to be able to retain them, and whatever services the 911 board elects. The 911 board once appointed will establish policy, procedures, and a budget.
Once the 200 signatures of Scotland County registered voters are obtained which is needed by August 6, 2026 and this measure is able to be placed on the ballot the question will read as follows:
Shall the county of Scotland County establish The Scotland County E-911 Emergency Services District, authorized to impose a countywide sales tax of 1% and a corresponding use tax at the same rate for the purpose of providing central dispatching of fire protection, emergency ambulance service, including emergency telephone services, and other services?
If you have any other questions please feel free to reach out to Erick Byrn at Scotland County Ambulance District at 660-465-2111.
