Annabelle Brunermer was recognized for her efforts to start the 911 system in the county. Pictured are Steve Bicehouse, the county's director of emergency services; Brunermer; and Frank Matis and W. Brad Magill, past county emergency services directors.

Butler County has the distinction of being the first county in the state to have a 911 center that dispatched first responders to emergency scenes.

On Wednesday, the county commissioners showed the entire county's appreciation for the woman whose idea it was to institute the 911 system.

Wednesday was proclaimed “Annabelle Brunermer Day” by the commissioners as Brunermer visited the 911 Center at the Sunnyview complex.

Leslie Osche, commissioners chairwoman, said a friend of Brunermer's from the Intermediate League had called Brunermer' to discuss an article on the new 911 concept the woman had read about in Reader's Digest.

Brunermer jumped on the idea.

“She talked to the mayor and other officials and got the whole thing off the ground,” Osche said.

Next year will mark the county 911 center's 50th anniversary, and officials wanted to include Wednesday's proclamation in a video and other promotional material they will prepare for that anniversary. According to the proclamation, the 911 center has developed from a one-console, one-tape-recorder system housed in the Butler Police Station to a state-of-the-art communications center that includes administrative offices and the county hazmat team.