MADISON, Wis. -- Members of the Dane County Board of Supervisors held a meeting on Monday night to give area residents a chance to ask questions about the local 911 system.

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It's the second meeting in regards to the alleged mishandling of a 911 call, but it was the first opportunity the public had to comment on the ongoing controversy.

Some local officials and residents have raised questions about the 911 system after an operator was accused of mishandling a call from the cell phone of a University of Wisconsin-Madison student who was later found dead, WISC-TV reported.

Three Dane County supervisors led the public hearing, which drew a crowd of 75 people to the Fitchburg Community Center. The meeting featured comments from several local officials with time for questions from the public regarding the death of Brittany Zimmermann, 21, in early April and the call that came from her cell phone to the Dane County 911 Center.

Dane County 911 Center director Joe Norwick, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney and Madison Police Chief Noble Wray were invited to speak at the hearing, but all didn't attend. Wray and Mahoney had previous engagements while Falk and Norwick attended the funeral of a nurse who was killed in the recent University of Wisconsin Hospital Med Flight helicopter crash.

Some board members said a meeting was necessary to restore public confidence in the 911 system. Board members said they want to give Dane County residents an opportunity to get direct answers to questions.

"We may have answers to some questions, but really this is a fact-finding hearing," said Board Member Eileen Bruskewitz, of Waunakee. "We want to find out what people feel about the 911 center, what they think needs to be done to make it better and more responsive to the public."

Some residents who attended asked many questions about 911 center staffing, funding and whether the system can be trusted.

"The problem with 911 is that it was never ever, ever intended to be a consolidated dispatch," said Sun Prairie resident Chuck Miller. "The idea behind 911 is that when you called 911, you got the local people that would respond to the call."

"We have to be able to depend on this service for the livelihood of people in this county," said Madison resident Don Severson. "I don't believe that that has been the case. There has been a pass made on making financial commitment and other resources to this center."

Dane County Supervisor John Hendrick told attendees at the meeting that he plans to introduce a resolution on Thursday that would implement a new 911 tax to help fund the center.

Bruskewitz also said that all the input from Monday will be used to help frame a resolution that she plans to introduce on Thursday. It will call for an independent third-party analysis of the 911 center. She said a separate 911 review called for by another supervisor is too limited in scope.

The county executive is seeking a review by the 911 center's professional association, WISC-TV reported.