Poplar Bluff spends $1.5M for 911 center, but center only gets $10K

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Poplar Bluff opened a new 911 center last week with an estimated $10,000 in technology provided by Information Systems Intelligence, a Michigan company the city council gave more than $1.5 million in December for a "disaster recovery plan."

This was part of more than $3 million spent with ISI in 2014, paid with capital improvement funds. Equipment budgets for other departments were slashed, including money that would have provided needed protective gear for city firefighters.

The Daily American Republic has learned a majority of spending for the disaster recovery project appears to have supported data recovery, rather than first-responder emergency operations.

About $750,000 is believed to have paid for off-site data replication through equipment now installed in Michigan, on behalf of the city. This includes the duplicate purchases of expensive data-storage equipment, switches, routers and other items bought by the city from ISI in October.

The 911 center, now on the campus of Three Rivers College, was pitched to residents by former city manager Heath Kaplan as a necessary improvement for public safety.

"Right now, folks, we're just not ready for a disaster," Kaplan told the city council in December. "It's amazing to me what our professionals can do with such little they've been given. ... To me, it feels like a calling. I feel like I'm meant to be here to help with this project."

The disaster recovery money was expected to help create and support joint 911 operations between the city, county and other agencies.

"It's paramount that we think about the general welfare of our city. That's why we're here," Kaplan said at the time.

The center has yet to be joined by any other agency. County officials were hesitant in January, saying they did not have enough information to commit their own resources.

The December purchase included more than $300,000 in high-end video conferencing equipment. Police officers in charge of the 911 center move say no one has discussed this equipment or its installation with them.

Another $330,000 was designated for 60 months of "hosting" charges that have never been fully explained by city officials or public documents.

The only items provided by ISI specifically for the move, according to officers, are one switch, one router and two transceiver modules. The same items were bought for all city buildings under the October purchase and those installed in the 911 center may have come from that project, local technology and city sources say. Costs for these products in October were: switch, $3,637; router, $4,334; and transceiver modules, $1,094.50.