SIKESTON -- Sikeston city and Scott County officials will soon come to a decision on a proposed merger of 911 dispatching services.
Figures that should represent a "worst case scenario" for the cost to merge 911 services were presented by Sikeston Department of Public Safety Director Drew Juden to a group of city and county officials during a special meeting Tuesday.
Officials are now determining which single vendor has the best bid so they can have a firm cost to present to the City Council and County Commission at 4 p.m. April 2. City and county officials agreed to be ready April 9 to make a decision on the proposed consolidation.
"We won't be able to adhere to anyone's purchasing policy," Juden said of the selection process.
"We went through about 12-15 vendor presentations on their 911 solutions for consolidation," he said. "We have narrowed it down to four companies."
As one of those four has previously indicated they can't meet the deadline proposed by Juden, there may only be three left to compare.
"We're on a very, very, very short timeline," he said. "We're going to have to make sure they can make those dates."
Juden said DPS is slated to take possession of its new building on July 28 and based on that advised vendors the 911 system would need to be installed by the "end of July to the middle of August."
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