New advisory board will address 911 operation issues in Cooper County

Efforts are underway to improve emergency communications and operations in Cooper County.

The Cooper County Commissioners approved an eight person advisory board at their meeting Thursday.

“We feel like it’s the commission’s responsibility to dictate how things are operated, and without having an advisory committee that is knowledgeable in the area, we’re making blind decisions,” said Cooper County Presiding Commissioner Don Baragary.

Baragary said dispatch for fire, police and medical services lack one single policy that would make communications and operations easier and more effective.

“The focus is, number one, to provide a service for the citizens in a better way,” he said. “Number two, provide safety for the responders in a better way and provide them the tools that they need to do their job.”

Some first responders provide service to more than one county, which can make operations confusing.

“For instance, the Otterville Fire Department,” Baragary said. “They operate in three counties, so they have a unique situation in which they have to deal with three county commissions and hopefully we can get that where we can work with the other counties and we can make it easier for them.”

The goal of this new eight person board is to do just that.

“It’s not a personnel issue at all,” Baragary said. “It’s a policy issue, so we just want to be informed and we feel like the people with boots on the ground, the people who are out in the field and the people who have more than 20 years experience in the field know more than we [the commissioners] do.”

The board members represent several fire and police districts, as well as ambulance services.

The board’s first meeting is Saturday. The Cooper County Commission is still deciding how often the board should meet.