Five of the six districts sued the county over fees owed to the Callaway County Emergency Operations Center. The county told the districts to use their own money to pay those fees.

The five suing districts met in a closed-door meeting to discuss a settlement offered by the county.

The original lawsuit alleged the county didn't have the authority to take taxpayer money intended for the fire districts to operate the county 911 center.

The county asked for about $30,000, which is split between the six fire districts. That's just a fraction of the $1 million the county needs to operate the center around the clock.

The fee is based on the percentage of calls the operations center takes for each district. The five suing districts were supposed to pay anywhere between $3,000 and $7,500 based on last year's service.

Millersburg is scheduled to pay the county $3,000. The South Callaway district $5000, the Central Callaway district $5,200, the Holts Summit district $6,500, and the North Callaway district is supposed to pay $7,500.

The settlement the county offered to each district would reportedly require them to pay for the 2009 fees and sign a contract for 2010.

The five districts never signed a contract for 2009 because of the lawsuit, but the county has continued to run the operations center without their money.

KOMU 8 spoke with a county commissioner earlier, who said that any settlement reached would have to be with each individual fire district, not a collective agreement.

The commissioner said he hopes the sides will reach an agreement soon, before the case goes to court, likely next week.

The New Bloomfield fire district is the sixth fire district, and didn't join the lawsuit because it agreed to pay the fees.