Sept. 9, 2026 updates: The Laclede County Commission purchased the Nelson System for Eventide DX Recorder ($40,000) on Tuesday. They discussed the INdigital proposal and Ryzyliant EDGE proposal during Tuesday's meeting with 911 Director Ryan Miles and INdigital sales representative Jonathan Skeens. The total initial investment cost of all three items were expected to stay in the range of $318,391, according to Presiding Commissioner Randy Angst on Tuesday in a separate interview. We plan to write a more detailed article in the future. Here is a link to the Record's recording of Tuesday's meeting: https://youtu.be/lLt5gj3F_ts?si=QeHGeZ-Vb9de5Rb5.
The Laclede County Commission was likely to decide on contracts that would upgrade the county’s 911 infrastructure and equipment at its meeting yesterday after securing a recommendation from the Laclede County 911 Advisory Board last week.
The Record was unable to report on any Tuesday morning decisions due to press time constraints, but it did appear likely, based on the commission’s agenda, that the elected body would act on Next Generation 911 (NG911) contract proposals.
During the Sept. 2 joint city-county advisory board meeting, Presiding Commissioner Randy Angst said during an explanation involving funding that now appeared to be the time to move forward based on what he and the County Commission has heard.
As the Record has reported previously, NG911 is a more modern system that is digital and internet-protocol based rather than the county’s current Enhanced 911, which uses copper lines.
The Record reported in its July article on the advisory board that the board had met with state 911 coordinator
Sarah Newell with the Missouri 911 Service Board (which is within the Missouri Department of Public Safety) and discussed NG911.
Sept. 2’s meeting of the advisory board followed the County Commission’s planned Tuesday work session with Laclede County 911 Director Ryan Miles (which the Record did not attend but did reference in the description of its Youtube recording of the regular meeting).
The advisory board, after its last meeting in July, had originally planned to next meet Oct. 13. It still plans to meet on that date.
At the Sept. 2 meeting, Miles presented three proposed upgrades for the advisory board to review.
The first upgrade was replacing VESTA 911 with the call-handling system Ryzyliant EDGE, which Indigital provides. Miles said the current system was aging and that it was critical to update it.
INdigital NGCS/MEVO services (Next Gen Core Services and Managed Emergency Voice Operations, according to INditigal) would upgrade the county from E911 to NG911. It would also upgrade redundancy, provide more stability for incoming 911 calls, and add text-to-911 capabilities, according to Miles.
The third upgrade would involve buying a new Nelson Recorder system, which would replace the current recorder which Miles noted no longer has available replacement parts. He noted the recorder system was a critical component.
The Record received a copy of Miles’s formal request. While not the final total cost, the pre-contract estimate of total first year investment costs was $313,226.11.
The Record will plan to cover the final, agreed upon contract costs when the County Commission approves the proposals.
Angst referenced available county funds at the advisory board meeting as well as funds generated through the county and city’s memorandum of understanding on the combined dispatch.
In the formal request, Miles also highlighted ongoing operational concerns such as legacy carrier dependency, future NG911 transition requirements, and failures of existing CAMA trunks.
CAMA, or centralized automated message accounting, “trunks are used both between the originating end office (EO) and the selective router (SR) as well as between the SR and the PSAP (public safety answering point),” according to the Department of Computer Science at Columbia University.
“The County currently has three CAMA trunks out of service, reducing redundancy and available call-taking capacity despite continued operational status,” the request from Miles noted.
Deciding whether to continue with Omnigo Software as Central Dispatch’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) was not an immediate but still pressing concern, according to Miles during the meeting. He said that the current Omnigo contract for Laclede County Central Dispatch and the Laclede County Sheriff’s Office expires in March 2028.
The meeting saw questions and long-term planning discussion.
The advisory board ultimately approved a recommendation for the County Commission to purchase the Ryzyliant EDGE Call Handling System with INdigital NGCS/MEVO services as presented.
The Record plans to provide an update once the County Commission decides on the NG911 contract proposals.
For more stories, see today's LCR.
