ROSEBUD – Gasconade County Communications has broken new ground statewide as the first emergency service dispatching center to install the Next Generation 911 system of AT&T.

Simply dubbed NG911, the new internet-based communications system offers the next level of technology for alerting public service agencies to emergencies. Technicians from AT&T and other companies with a hand in the new system were on site Thursday at Gasconade County Communications to “cut over” the center from the decades-old analog system to the new internet-based program.

The county center is the first in the state to receive NG911 and financed the technology with a grant received earlier this year from the statewide board that oversees 911 programs.

“It’s going to improve our locator services,” said County Communications Executive Director Lisa Thacker Wednesday morning during the agency’s monthly Board of Directors meeting.

Depending on what the local 911 board decides regarding what it will receive over the new system, a person calling for emergency services could provide voice, video and photo images in calling in an emergency incident.

“I can see that being very beneficial to our first responders, as long as it’s a closed system,” said board member John Adams, referring to images that might be transmitted from a scene during a 911 call.

Thacker said the seven directors need to be thinking about the expanded capabilities of NG911 as they consider ways to safeguard its use.

“With this new system, we’re going to have to make policy,” Thacker said, adding that the agency policymakers will decide what to receive through the new system.

And while NG911 is expected to make life a little easier for the dispatchers, it’s also going to save Gasconade County Communications money, Thacker said. Fees being charged to the agency for land-line use (trunk charges) will no longer apply as the system is internet based, she said, estimating a yearly savings of between $5,000 and $6,000.

Having NG911 might also prove helpful in recruiting new dispatchers — which, Thacker said, is something the board needs to be aware of.

“We’re feeling the pressure” of the labor crunch, she told the board. While County Communications has been fortunate in fielding a full staff, the lure of higher pay offered to dispatchers in neighboring counties must be considered, she added.

“Eventually, we’re going to have to look at raising the wages here to be more competitive,” Thacker said. “I know we could get quality, experienced people in if we could offer more. Considering that, it’s getting harder to find people.”

Director Clyde Zelch said he favored the board considering higher pay, but that he wasn’t prepared to meet the pay offered by larger, more populous nearby counties, such as Franklin County, which has a population of more than 100,000. Gasconade County has just under 15,000 residents, according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures.

Director Josh Krull said it’s understood the agency can’t match the offering of larger counties.

“We’re not going to be paying (St. Louis County) Central Dispatch money, Clyde,” he said.