Perry County 911 dispatch; over 1,000 petition to vote
PERRY COUNTY, Mo. (KBSI)- Over a thousand people signed a petition at Rozier’s Food Centre in Perryville, to keep the 911 dispatch center local.
“I think it was a decision made without a lot of input from the citizens, and I think that if people had known more details, which we weren’t given, that they might have, you know, not wanted that.” One of the signatures on the petition is Terry Hill, a long-time resident of Perryville.
She says she feels the commissioners have not been transparent about the funding for the outsourcing, “I will be very disappointed; I don’t think it’s a good idea but what’s most disturbing is we don’t know about the funding because they won’t tell us.”
Kim Kimmell is a dispatcher, and she has worked for the Perryville Police Department for two and a half years.
Kimmell went door to door, to get signatures from residents in the last few weeks for the petition.
She is determined to keep 911 dispatch local.
Kimmell adds, “I know what we do here, and I know how important it is, that we know our area.”
Kimmell also says she has unanswered questions based on the savings for the outsourcing, “Where is this supposed savings coming from? Because if it’s in salaries, and benefits for the dispatchers, they’re also saying that we’re all going to have a job at the new justice center, just in a different capacity.”
Kimmell says she has not received an offer to move into a position at the Justice Center, offered a severance package or spoken to about either.
Perry County Commissioners signed the merger in December to begin the process, but 1,000 signatures put that on hold.
Now residents of Perry County will be able to vote on the issue in April.
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