The Montgomery County Communications Center found a new home on Dec. 28, 2020.

The center was moved to 250 Pickering Street in Montgomery City after it was housed at the Montgomery County Courthouse for years.

On April 7, as part of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, a proclamation ceremony was held at the MCCC to dedicate the opening of the new building as well as recognize all of the dispatchers.

The Montgomery County Commission – which includes Presiding Commissioner Ryan Poston, 1st District Commissioner Dave Teeter and 2nd District Commissioner Doug Lensing – signed the proclamation. Sheriff Craig Allison and Chief Deputy Dan Gevermuehle also were in attendance.

“9-1-1 has never really been included in emergency responders,” MCCC Director Jody LaBanca said. “There’s a national movement going on right now to recognize that dispatchers are the first responders. Several states have adopted it, but Missouri has not. There are a few of these going on and we have never been included in any like this before. So I went to the commissioners and I asked them if they’ll be willing to recognize our dispatchers.”

The MCCC has eight dispatchers who provide 24-hour emergency services to law enforcement, medical and fire agencies countywide. Kayla Trivette, who lives in Montgomery City, is one of the longest-tenured dispatchers at nine years. Two new dispatchers joined the staff in November.

“Some of them live in surrounding counties,” LaBanca said. “We have some from Lincoln County and we have some from Pike County. So they drive that far in every shift because they just love the job.”

The MCCC building houses an emergency operations center and a dispatch office. LaBanca said the MCCC got a lot of upgrades when it moved to Pickering Street 16 months ago.

“We were outgrowing the courthouse basement,” LaBanca said. “We needed new infrastructure. We needed a new 9-1-1 system that we couldn’t afford. The county didn’t have the money, so we had to use a different funding source.”

LaBanca said the center got new repeaters, which expanded the ability to talk to responders.

“We didn’t have any repeaters in the north part of the county before,” LaBanca said. “Once they (the fire departments) hit a certain radius outside the fire department, we have no communication with them. I’ve been here for 26 years and it’s always been like that. Now, when they go into Pike County, we’ll have them (the repeaters) and they’re clear as a bell.”

LaBanca, who has been director for 10 years, said she and her dispatchers enjoy working at the new building.

“We like the security,” LaBanca said. “We have never been really secure before because we were in the courthouse, so anybody had access. We were able to upgrade the radio system. We also have new programs that we’re starting to implement.”

The new building opened during a time when many people in the country were affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We didn’t really lose a whole lot of dispatchers,” LaBanca said. “We were really lucky in that regard. A lot of dispatch centers did. Of course, there’s a staffing shortage everywhere. There is definitely one at 911 right now. I just thought having recognition for them would be great because they really did come in through everything, risking through COVID to try to keep the same level of service to our community that we could. When we were out sick, we weren’t short staffed. They really pulled in a lot of overtime. They really went above and beyond last year. So they really did great. I thought they deserve the recognition.”