Dispatch Center changes bonding process

Friday, February 27, 2015

Nevada Daily Mail

The Western Missouri 911 Dispatch Center board of directors welcomed new members to their meeting Wednesday as they added Chris Mason of the Vernon County Ambulance District to the board.

Mason was an original member of the board when it was formed about seven years ago, even serving as chairman of the board. He said it has been almost four years since he served as a member of the board.

"I'm back," Mason said, asking questions occasionally through the meeting to get up to date on the board and the 911 Dispatch Center. "I'm trying to catch up."

Mason currently serves as the vice-chairman of the VCAD board.

Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Joe Hardin also attended the meeting for his first time since taking office in January. Southern commissioner Everett Wolfe had been attending the dispatch meetings in recent months. Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher was absent from the meeting due to a schedule conflict.

Dispatch Center director Tonia Davis told the board that the procedure for paying prisoner's bonds has changed in Vernon County so that dispatch center employees no longer handle cash. Instead, the money is placed in a kiosk in the front lobby. A receipt is then printed as proof the bond was paid and then the bond is processed. For city bonds, copies of checks will be provided.

"In terms of financial control, it eliminates the problem of having 911 dispatch members handling the cash," city manager and board chairman J.D. Kehrman said.

Police chief Graham Burnley said that he supports the change and said the police department is also trying to eliminate the presence of cash altogether inside the department.

Davis said she was apprehensive concerning the change at first, but the transition has gone smoothly so far.

"Change tends to be a nightmare up there sometimes," Davis said.

During the meeting, Burnley also let the members know that Crisis Intervention Team training will be offered in Kansas City, March 25-27. The training was offered to a Western Missouri 911 dispatcher at no cost and will teach them how to handle a crisis involving someone who is mentally impaired. Davis said the information would then be relayed to the other dispatchers.

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