County Hopes to Know More on 911 Feasibility Study Within Month

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County officials hope by next month they’ll be able to present the scope of a much-discussed feasibility study on merging Lewis County’s 911 communication operations with Thurston 911 Communications (TCOMM).

County Manager Erik Martin provided the update during a meeting of the Lewis County Fire Commissioners Association Monday where he emphasized a point made last time the county’s executive board met with fire officials: Input from first responders will be necessary moving forward.

“Looking at this feasibility-wise is to make sure that we are hearing from all of the fire districts and all of the law enforcement groups, not just a few,” said Martin.

Lewis County commissioners met with the TCOMM board recently, and determined that Martin would work with the TCOMM director to formalize the scope of the study, which they then hope to report back to the TCOMM board in September.

Martin said that through the planning, there are a few goals that will be kept in mind throughout the study: Maintaining public safety, that it be economically reasonable, effective and efficient, and that all Lewis County first responder agencies remain united and heard.

Lewis County commissioner Bobby Jackson said commissioners are in communication with state officials in efforts to obtain information on how best to restructure the local 911 communication system and possibly secure state funding to do so.

Specifically, Jackson serves on Washington state’s 911 advisory board, where he said a study was recently launched looking at state costs per fiscal year on 911 communication services. Additionally, Jackson said he recently received a letter notifying him of his appointment to the state’s Interoperability Executive Committee — a position he’ll serve as a representative of the Washington State Association of Counties. That organization develops policy and technical standards for “existing and future communication systems,” he said.

Jackson said he hopes these appointments will provide Lewis County with representation at a state level, and can be applied to efforts to alter the county’s existing 911 communication systems.

“We’re working hard with the state to try to tie into what we’re doing here in Lewis County, and it’s going to be beneficial, hopefully, to all of us,” said Jackson.

Earlier this summer, at the request of TCOMM board members, the county sent the Thurston County organization a letter formally requesting a feasibility study be launched to better understand what melding the two counties’ 911 systems would entail.

The merging of the operations was one of a few options on the table to address concerns about Lewis County’s aging communication infrastructure and cost of operation, which have been brewing for years now. Another option discussed is to form a shared authority within Lewis County governed by a board of various officials, rather than the current interlocal agreement between Lewis County and user agencies.

City officials across the county reacted favorably when news was spread that the feasibility study with TCOMM had taken an official step forward, after months of informal discussion with TCOMM.

“I know last time I talked about us continuing to kick the can down the road, so thank you for picking up the can,” said Chehalis Mayor Dennis Dawes during a Mayor’s Meeting hosted by the BOCC in June. Dawes has been on of the most vocal critics of Lewis County’s 911 communications, and proponent of seeking new options.

“I would request that as this goes through, you keep the staffs of the cities included in the process,” Dawes said.