Phillips named Missouri 911 Director of the Year
Barry County E9-1-1 director Mike Phillips (far right) received the Missouri Director of the Year Award at the spring 2019 Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference.
April 24, 2019
Charlea Estes-Jones
Local 911 director Mike Phillips is making waves in the emergency services community in Missouri. First, he was elected as president of the Missouri 911 Directors Association, and now he was selected as the Director of the Year at the spring 2019 Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference.
Phillips began his career with the Barry County E9-1-1 Center in 2007 to do mapping and addressing as well as staffing and implementing policy and procedure after working as a dispatcher and in mapping and addressing in Warsaw for Benton County. In 2009, the original 911 director announced he was leaving and Phillips put in for the director position, which he was hired for.
Phillips said becoming a director was the next step for him in a career he feels he is meant for. He said, "I truly felt when I got into 911 that I was meant to be here. Before that, I did construction and sales and other things, but I really felt like I was at home when I got into 911. The majority of my family is involved in emergency services and growing up, I didn't have much desire to do that. It never was something I thought I would do.
"But when I got into 911 and did addressing and saw the value of what that does, I realized I was really helping people out. I felt that the job and this career was extremely important and have a lot of value."
Phillips was elected president of the Missouri 911 Directors Association board after being involved with the organization for a few years. That elected position began last year and is a two-year term.
He said, "As president of the board, the primary object is dissemination of information to our members. I work on legislative efforts: anything that affects 911 and the state of Missouri this organization has an active role in.
"I might do testimony of support, meet with congress and so forth and explain our position and why there is a value to this bill being passed."
Phillips was asked to run for the position when the former president of the board stepped down after several years of service. He was unopposed as president for that board.
He said, "I thought I could bring some value to the organization and at least accept the nomination."
Other aspects of that role include giving support to directors across the state in their 911 capacities. He said, "The other big component of the directors is we provide a lot of support for administrators and directors for 911.
"We provide a lot of support where we can network, share resources, different policies and procedures and what we're working in that area.
"It's a lot of collaboration and sharing of ideas."
Recognition like serving on the directors' board a just shows Phillips' dedication to the community and the importance of 911.
He said, "I've never met people in this industry that don't have a desire to help people. I try to make the place better and help people out. That's when I realized where I'm meant to be at and what I'm supposed to do with my life and my career. And it's worked out for me.
"Things change a lot ad there is a lot of stress in this industry. There's always new staff members and products that are coming out what we need to update. In this industry, things change quite a bit and that keeps it refreshing. There's always new things to learn and there's always new technology coming out."
Charlea Estes-Jones
Local 911 director Mike Phillips is making waves in the emergency services community in Missouri. First, he was elected as president of the Missouri 911 Directors Association, and now he was selected as the Director of the Year at the spring 2019 Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference.
Phillips began his career with the Barry County E9-1-1 Center in 2007 to do mapping and addressing as well as staffing and implementing policy and procedure after working as a dispatcher and in mapping and addressing in Warsaw for Benton County. In 2009, the original 911 director announced he was leaving and Phillips put in for the director position, which he was hired for.
Phillips said becoming a director was the next step for him in a career he feels he is meant for. He said, "I truly felt when I got into 911 that I was meant to be here. Before that, I did construction and sales and other things, but I really felt like I was at home when I got into 911. The majority of my family is involved in emergency services and growing up, I didn't have much desire to do that. It never was something I thought I would do.
"But when I got into 911 and did addressing and saw the value of what that does, I realized I was really helping people out. I felt that the job and this career was extremely important and have a lot of value."
Phillips was elected president of the Missouri 911 Directors Association board after being involved with the organization for a few years. That elected position began last year and is a two-year term.
He said, "As president of the board, the primary object is dissemination of information to our members. I work on legislative efforts: anything that affects 911 and the state of Missouri this organization has an active role in.
"I might do testimony of support, meet with congress and so forth and explain our position and why there is a value to this bill being passed."
Phillips was asked to run for the position when the former president of the board stepped down after several years of service. He was unopposed as president for that board.
He said, "I thought I could bring some value to the organization and at least accept the nomination."
Other aspects of that role include giving support to directors across the state in their 911 capacities. He said, "The other big component of the directors is we provide a lot of support for administrators and directors for 911.
"We provide a lot of support where we can network, share resources, different policies and procedures and what we're working in that area.
"It's a lot of collaboration and sharing of ideas."
Recognition like serving on the directors' board a just shows Phillips' dedication to the community and the importance of 911.
He said, "I've never met people in this industry that don't have a desire to help people. I try to make the place better and help people out. That's when I realized where I'm meant to be at and what I'm supposed to do with my life and my career. And it's worked out for me.
"Things change a lot ad there is a lot of stress in this industry. There's always new staff members and products that are coming out what we need to update. In this industry, things change quite a bit and that keeps it refreshing. There's always new things to learn and there's always new technology coming out."
