Callaway County Presiding Commissioner Gary Jungermann said the county commission is in the process of hiring a consultant to evaluate the county's 911 emergency radio dispatching center.
"We would like to have a qualified outside source to take a look at our emergency operations center and evaluate it up and down. We want a study to look into the equipment we have and the personnel working there. We want every aspect of the center evaluated," Jungermann said.
Jungermann said Shelly Anderson, the manager of the 911 call center, is aware that a consultant will be used by the county for the evaluation.
"It's something the commission wants to do because we don't have a perfect understanding of how the center operates. We know the people and we know what they do there. But none of the commissioners could go to the center and operate it because it is complicated," Jungermann said.
Jungermann said the commission wants to make sure the center is up-to-date and is operating efficiently and according to acceptable standards for such centers.
"We want to know if there is anything there that could cause a potential issue down the line," Jungermann said.
The job of emergency dispatching, he said, is important and extremely stressful.
"We have a high turnover rate of emergency radio dispatchers. It's about 25 to 30 percent. I've been told the national average is about 20 percent. What we have is not that far off the national average. But I have been told that when the turnover rate goes to 40 percent, there's something wrong," Jungermann said.