In this Sept. 11, 2012, file photo, sunglasses reflect the computer screens in front of a Lewis County 911 Communications Center dispatcher as she takes a call during a Friday night shift. The center is located on the top floor of the Lewis County Courthouse.
Leaders from emergency response agencies throughout Lewis County gathered Friday for the first official step in efforts to reform the county’s beleaguered 911 communications system.
Twenty-eight police, fire and EMS officials assembled at Lewis County Fire District 8 in Salkum for a meeting that was mostly informational in nature, but marked a milestone in long-running efforts to give first responders a bigger voice in 911 operations.
“Your input is critical to the direction we go in the future,” said Steve Mansfield, Lewis County’s director of emergency services. “It will be listened to. … When we make decisions, the decisions need to be driven back to this group. This is where the influence and the power will come from.
The Friday afternoon meeting was the first official forum following the ratification of a new interlocal agreement between the Lewis County 911 Communications Center and the agencies it serves. The Center had been beset by complaints from the departments that it was not responsive, a vote of no confidence in manager Dave Anderson from dispatchers, a state Department of Labor & Industries investigation and a lawsuit alleging the dispersal of personal information.
“What we see today is a milestone and working with Lewis County to have an opportunity to have a fresh start,” said Riverside Fire Authority Chief Mike Kytta. “That we have such good representation here today is very encouraging.”
Kytta and Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen negotiated the new pact with Mansfield, and agency leaders opted to keep the pair in leadership roles going forward. Nielsen was elected chair and Kytta vice chair of the Combined User Committee, an advisory body set up in the new agreement to make recommendations going forward. Both ran unopposed.
Though that committee only has the authority to make suggestions, Mansfield assured the group that it will not be powerless.
“Your recommendation carries some true weight because it comes from the group,” he said.
Prior to the enactment of the pact, he said, the county had been forced to respond to disparate concerns from individual agencies, which resulted in disjointed results.
The group also elected a budget committee to help create funding proposals to submit to the county. The group will be made up of Lewis County Budget Manager Becky Butler, Centralia Police Commander Stacy Denham, District 6 Fire Commissioner Jeri Lux, Phil Condon of Glenoma Fire & EMS and American Medical Response Operations Manager Tony Kuzma.
“This committee is your opportunity to ... get a clear understanding of what it is we’re paying for, where we’re paying it,” Nielsen said.
The remaining voting members of the Combined User Committee are established under the parameters of the agreement: Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza, Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer, Chehalis Fire Chief Ken Cardinale and Lewis County Fire District representatives Gregg Peterson and Jeff Jaques.
The group agreed to hold future meetings at the Salkum location, with ongoing discussion about meeting times. Mansfield said his first goals are to get a clear picture of operating costs and set up a fund to deal with unexpected expenses, so that department heads don’t have to go back to their elected officials to ask for more money.
Long-term, the biggest challenge will be continuing to provide services with an aging communications infrastructure that the county can’t afford to replace.
“We may be able to squeeze a little more out of what we have in terms of efficiency and effectiveness,” Mansfield said, calling the current system a “hodge podge.” “We can’t make do with what we have here. You’ve all told me we don’t have the funding to pay for this.”
Ultimately, the response agencies are going to have come up with a plan, whether that’s finding grant opportunities or asking taxpayers for more money. The new agreement, though, and the planning done by its members, could help give that future proposal more weight.
“I’m eager to champion this cause, but I need you behind me, and I need the facts and figures in front of me,” Mansfield said.
Kytta noted that the new agreement was true government work, turning the previous five-page document into a 50-page pact — though the detailed structure it outlines had proven necessary.
“We did use a bigger font,” Mansfield countered.
