Lake Ozark 9-1-1 Agreement with Osage Beach Dead in the Water…At Least for Now

The possibility of a communications agreement for the City of Osage Beach 9-1-1 center to provide service for police dispatch in the City of Lake Ozark now appears to be a dead issue…at least for the time being.

After the joint agreement gained first-reading approval by the board of aldermen in Lake Ozark, the agenda item for the most recent Osage Beach meeting was changed from what was first published as a first reading, instead, to a discussion item.

That discussion lasted well over an hour with comments from current Osage Beach dispatch, police and fire personnel to several questions being raised by the board of aldermen. Alderman Kevin Rucker, who served as longtime fire chief for Osage Beach, says he’s for the concept but there’s one main obstacle standing in the way.

9-1-1 Supervisor Lexie Morley also addressed the board saying staffing has been an issue for the center already over the past several years and that such a consolidation has the potential to even worsen the situation. Another sticking point was the proposed September 1^st date to officially start the consolidation which, most agreed, would not be nearly enough time to adequately train any more dispatchers. With no action being taken by the Osage Beach board, it’s unclear at this point how it will affect plans for the Lake Ozark board to consider a second reading of the agreement.