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Here's more information to a story we brought you earlier this week in regards to Marion County Emergency Services asking the city of Hannibal for more money for 9-1-1 dispatching.

KHQA spoke with the Chairman of Emergency Services board, Al Durand, Thursday afternoon for his side of the story.

Durand told KHQA when 9-1-1 services started up in Marion County, the City of Hannibal was charged for the service.

In 2003, voters approved a sales tax to change the way 9-1-1 was funded.

Durand says when the tax was passed, it was for emergency dispatching only.

In the past two years, The Hannibal Police Department has asked for a proposal of what the costs would be for 9-1-1 to handle non-emergency calls and other administrative work.

So a couple of weeks ago, a letter was sent to the city of Hannibal outlining a plan.

"Our feeling was the leadership in Hannibal would come to us since this was strictly a proposal and not an ultimatum, but just a proposal. That they would come to us and we could discuss the services. We sent them numbers because they asked for them. Those numbers are certainly negotiable," says Durand.

Instead, local media got a press release from city attorney James Lemon that said Emergency Services was demanding more money, and the city council felt this was a double tax on the citizens of Hannibal.

The release also said the city intends to explore all options, including dispatching for just the city of Hannibal.

Now, Durand hopes the city contacts the Emergency Services Board to start negotiating some numbers instead of having it play out in public.