Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen spoke March 9, 2017, at a public safety meeting at Fort Borst Park about several issues, including property crime and the department's new online crime reporting system.
Centralia City Councilors voted unanimously Tuesday to enter into a new interlocal agreement with the Lewis County 911 Communications Center, expressing hope that it would mark a step forward in what has been a strained partnership.
“All the problems have not been solved,” Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen told the council before the vote. “Do we still have challenges? Yes, we do. But we feel like this interlocal agreement gives us more voice in trying to fix those issues, and we think it’s been good work so far.”
The previous agreement, Nielsen said, gave users — the 26 agencies that partner with the county — “very little input,” but the new document provides for user groups and committees that allow them to weigh in on things such as budgeting and forecasting.
The Board of Lewis County Commissioners approved the agreement Feb. 5. Nielsen and Riverside Fire Authority Chief Mike Kytta negotiated the pact with Steve Mansfield, Lewis County’s director of emergency services. Kytta, in attendance at City Hall Tuesday, affirmed that he would be recommending its approval as well.
The agreement is still pending approval from many of the 26 other emergency service providers, including Chehalis, which is expected to take it up in March. It marks an effort to break from a period that saw the center plagued by complaints from partners, a vote of no confidence in manager Dave Anderson from dispatchers, an L&I investigation by the state and a lawsuit over dispersal of personal information.
“During the last few years, this critical partnership has been challenged,” Mansfield acknowledged in a summary delivered to Lewis County Commissioners. The agreement will sunset after two years, with a review before the start of the second year.
The Centralia and Chehalis police departments, along with the Riverside Fire Authority and the Chehalis Fire Department, have hired a consultant to study the possibility of the entities operating their own 911 dispatch center separate from the county.
The results of that study have not yet been released.
