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In 1989, "real life" television shows fueled the fire for rural areas across the nation to   implement 9-1-1 systems for their citizens. In South Dakota, state government made the conscience decision that 9-1-1 was a local problem and a local issue. No state funding was made available for 9-1-1 projects. During the 1989 session of the state legislature, a local government permissive form of legislation passed which allowed local government to impose up to a 75 cent per month surcharge on telephone lines in South Dakota. This provided a portion of the funding needed for 9-1-1.

It was discovered early in the project that a steering committee was needed at the state level to help remove barriers to 9-1-1 for rural areas and to provide guidance to local government. In answer to this need, the South Dakota Association of County Commissioners and the South Dakota Municipal League formed a committee of local government elected and appointed officials known as the South Dakota 9-1-1 Task Force. This Task Force set policy for local government to follow in implementing 9-1-1 systems.

It quickly became apparent that this task force would need a staff person to act as an information outlet and carry out projects as directed by the Task Force. This staff person was initially provided by the Governor's Office. Six months later, the Office of Emergency Management was asked to take over this staff duty.

In order to fund this staff position, one cent per telephone line per month for all telephone lines in South Dakota was sent to the Office of Emergency Management. In 1999, the law allowing the Office of Emergency Management to promulgate rules was repealed,  which then ended the local funding of the 9-1-1 Coordinator.

The duties and responsibilities of the 9-1-1 Coordinator were to act as an information outlet for local government in implementing 9-1-1 systems. To do this, the 9-1-1 Coordinator attended local county commission meetings, local 9-1-1 steering committee meetings, and service club meetings. Other meetings attended were meetings of the public utilities commission and any other meetings where attendance was requested.

The 9-1-1 Coordinator was also involved with carrying out projects as suggested by the 9-1-1 Advisory Board. One of the first projects carried out was the formation of a statewide rural addressing system for South Dakota. This system is imposed by administrative rule in South Dakota and is uniform across the state. Implementation is a local decision.

Other responsibilities were drafting, research and tracking of legislation; grant writing, information gathering, and research of technology and 9-1-1 issues.