The voters of Adair County will decide April 4 what phone number on-campus students need to call in an emergency. The Board of Governors voted Saturday to support a resolution in favor of a countywide 911 dispatch center. The center, if created, would serve the Department of Public Safety, Kirksville Police Department, Kirksville Fire Department, Adair County Sheriff's Department and the Adair County Ambulance District. To report an on-campus emergency, students and staff are instructed to dial x5555 at this time. Under the new system, students would dial 911, 9-911 or a similar derivative for emergency assistance on campus, said Telephone Services Director Ray Jagger.
Several options exist for solving the problem.
Another option would be to change the number used to access an outside telephone line. For example, instead of dialing 9 to call off campus, students might dial a 2 and then the phone number. This would eliminate the need to dial 9-911 in an emergency situation,Jagger said. If passed, the countywide 911 proposition would centralize dispatch services for all emergency personnel in Adair County. One centralized agency, headquartered in the Kirksville Police Department, would handle all calls received via 911, Public Safety Director Lisa Sprague said.