Plans for the installation of a future enhanced 911 emergency phone system are underway.

Members of the DeKalb County Emergency Telephone Safety Board met in a special meeting to elect officers and discuss the 911 system, passed in the Nov. 7 general election.

The system is a “major step forward,” Capt. Jim Laben of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Department said. The board is full of “confidence and cooperation,” he said.

The safety board elected Laben as chairman, DeKalb Police Chief Donald Berke as vice-chairman and Sycamore Police Chief Dale Vesta as board secretary.

Taking care of paperwork and verifying boundaries of DeKalb County residential areas for 911 installment is the primary goal for the board, Laben said.

An 84 cent surcharge put into effect within 90 days for DeKalb County residents is needed before the two-year project can begin, he said.

NIU, Genoa, Sycamore, Sandwich, the city of DeKalb and DeKalb County are the six locations receiving a public safety answering point (PSAP) for the system.

Each PSAP location has a dispatcher who receives a call and contacts the law enforcement agency in the district to assist the caller, such as the University Police at NIU.

NIU presently has a 911 basic emergency system giving only the phone number of the caller to a dispatcher. The enhanced phone system is completely computerized and provides automatic number and address identification.

The medical, historical and building structure information of the caller and his location will be available to the PSAP dispatcher on a computer terminal.

The board will meet Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St., to form sub-committees, make minor changes within the bylaws and draw lots for two and four year terms.