Boards Exploring Future Of E911 Management
The Emergency Management Commission, The E911 Board and the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors all met in joint session this past week to discuss the future of administration of the county 911 system.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Emergency 911 commission is a board of mayors, city council members or their designee. The board, which is in place for the purpose of operating and managing the E911 service within Mahaska County, was formed on August 4, 1988.
Recently, long serving Director Randy Frazier stepped down from that position, and is now a dispatcher. The position is currently being filled by the lead dispatcher in an interim capacity, until the future of how the director position will be filled is decided.
That conversation is months in the making. The 911 Board initially put together a committee to find and hire a new director, but there has been a recent vote by the Mahaska County Emergency Management Commission to explore the possibility of combining the two boards into a single entity.
Currently, the two separate boards share 5 representatives.
That continuity between the boards, and the potential savings for the departments and communities like Oskaloosa, are the driving force behind the discussion of the merger.
The move may help Oskaloosa to the tune of 100 thousand dollars or more to it’s general fund.
Mahaska County’s unique way of administrating the E911 systems stems from its inception back in 1988 when it was reported that the Oskaloosa Police Chief and the Mahaska County Sheriff, at that time, couldn’t agree on who would be in charge.
Since Iowa Code specifies that E911 must be administrated by a law enforcement officer, the county attorney was then selected to fill that role. Now the E911 Board is considering whether to move ahead with hiring a new director or merge the two boards primarily under the Emergency Management Board with EMA Director Jamey Robinson at the helm, while having the Mahaska County Sheriff as the administrator. The E911 Board would need to meet at least once a year, no matter which route is taken, in order to approve the surcharge funding for E911 in the county.
In a previous meeting with the Emergency Management Commission, they voted unanimously to be the board that would be responsible for the E911 Center in the county. Nearly one-third of all counties in the state run under such a structure. “There are others in the process of moving that direction,” said Robinson.
“Basically, the thought is to move all the operations of 911 under the EMA umbrella,” said Robinson. Robinson would then become the E911 Director and the Sheriff would take over as Administrator.
Mahaska County Attorney Amy Zenor is the Administrator of the E911 Department for Mahaska County under its current structure. She inherited that position when elected as county attorney. “This is an interesting position we find ourselves in,” said Zenor.
Zenor talked about the dedication of current staff to help in the transition after former director Randy Frazier stepped down at the beginning of the year.
“Effectively what we’re talking about here is, every county has to have a 911 board. It has to have a manager. It also has to have a director position. I know that this structure Jamey’s talking about works. I know there are many counties that use it, but I believe that our structure also works and I think that we had a good plan here,” Zenor said of the E911 Board’s plans of advertising for and hiring a new director.
“In a way, I am kind of disappointed we have gotten to this point,” that advertisements have been placed with publications for the position, explained Zenor. “But I do see the valid points that Jamey’s made and the structure he is proposing. However, I believe it’s kind of an end-run that we are running here. It’s not where we started.”
In order for the new structure to be put in place, a new 28E agreement would need to be drafted and approved by the entities involved. “I believe the 28E is going to have to be amended either way,” said Mark Doland, who is chair for the E911 Board.
“I’m all for consolidation,” said E911 board member Tom Walling, “It’s just a little new.”
Walling is referring to the EMA Board’s proposition for them to take on the responsibility of the current E911 board’s duties and to oversee the personnel within the department.
The E911 Board moved that further investigation take place on the potential change to E911 oversight, and what it would take to have the Emergency Management Commission take on that responsibility.
