Guthrie County E911 Office
200 North 5th Street
Guthrie Center, IA 50115

Ph: (641) 747-8320
Fax: (641) 747-8916
envhlth@netins.net

Hrs: 8:00 to 4:30 (M-F)

Guthrie County Main > County E911

Guthrie County E911 Office
In the early 1990s Guthrie County began work on developing an enhanced 911 (E911) system. At that time a referendum was voter-approved for the $1.00 surcharge on each phone line to support the cost of the system. Guthrie County began by developing the addressing system that is now in place by naming roads and assigning addresses.

Soon after the County began this, Iowa Methodist Medical Center through its rural outreach program began a series of meetings with the idea of developing a regional 911 system that might be more efficient and professional than individual county systems. Guthrie County attended these meetings and six of the original nine counties invited agreed to set up a regional system.

The six counties were Guthrie, Adair, Madison, Union, Clarke, and Taylor. After the system was further along in its development, Adams County also joined to make the seven counties that now make up the South Central Iowa Regional E911 Services Board. There was one consultant, one overall system, but with each local sheriff’s office serving as the county’s answering point. This made for an efficient system but with local response. There is a fourteen member board (two representatives/county) that meets monthly to conduct business and pay bills. There is a professional data base manager/office manager to see that the system is providing accurate data.

Today Guthrie County has an excellent program to maintain all intersection signs (supported by local property tax dollars), a very well done set of maps that are available on paper, a well-equipped answering system in the Sheriff’s Dept., and a new system to handle cellular calls with the intent of being able to locate the caller (if the phone has GPS capabilities). The next challenge is to develop a 911 system that works for those using VoIP technology (Voice over Internet Protocol for those using their computer as the phone system in their home).