Lisa Schlottach, operations manager for Gasconade County E-911 reports this week that the county’s dispatching service has obtained certification from the state as a training facility.

Representative from county emergency services agencies also met as a group in what they hope are biannual sessions to share information in an effort to continue their effort at coordinating a county-wide network of resources and training to handle emergency situations.

Here is Schlottach’s report issued Tuesday:

Gasconade County E-911 is now a state-certified training facility. We created a 16-hour class that has been certified by the state for us to train 911 dispatchers here and throughout the state.

This training is something that dispatchers have to take every two years to be in compliance with state law. This means that we will not have to send our employees away to training which will save a lot of money. We can also charge other agencies to certify their employees. We are in the process of setting up our first class which we hope to have in April. We hope to have a lot of participation from other counties in our area.

Also we had our first “Department Head” meeting for all emergency services departments throughout Gasconade County on Monday.

Those who attended the meeting were:

• Kris Bayless - Owensville Fire

• Frank Tennant - Hermann Police

• David Schulte - Hermann Fire

• Vera McDowell - Hermann PD/Communications

• Jeff Kuhne - Owensville Fire

• Susan Steinbeck - Gasconade County Special Services

• Tom Harwin - Ozark Central Ambulance

• Karen Arnold - Owensville Ambulance

• Ben Grosse - Gasconade County Coroner

• Dan Dyer - Gasconade County Emergency Management

• Stephanie Helton - Gasconade County 911

• Lisa Schlottach - Gasconade County 911

Issues discussed included regional and local resources, addresses and ENS numbers, map books and private drive signs, apparatus catalogues, Alert FM, shelters in the county, grants through the Regional Homeland Security Committee, special needs residents and reverse 911.

It was good to see so much participation and cooperation throughout the county! The meeting went very well and it was suggested by Chief Tennant of HPD, and agreed on by the group, that we have this type of meeting every six months.

— Lisa M. Schlottach, operations manager, Gasconade County 911, 405A East Lincoln, Owensville, Mo., 65066