Consultant hired to study 911 system

A consultant soon will begin studying how to overhaul 911 dispatch services in Flathead County.

The Flathead City-County 911 Administrative Board decided last week to hire Lisa Durand of rural Flathead County as a consultant to study what should be changed in the area's 911 set-ups.

Durand has more than 20 years in emergency dispatch services, with the majority as a top-ranking official, in several cities before she moved to Montana to run a small business. She is scheduled to produce a report of her findings to the 911 board by April 15, 2006.

The 911 board - which has police, fire and public members - has been wrestling for years with how the area's 911 services should be set up.

Right now, Flathead County has four 911 dispatch centers. Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls each have a 911 center to handle only police calls within their city limits. The Flathead County Sheriff's Office supervises the fourth 911 center, which handles all city and rural fire and emergency calls in the county, plus all law-enforcement calls outside the three cities.

Problems exist with the main 911 center's dispatchers handling a mix of fire, ambulance and administrative duties on top of dispatching sheriff's deputies.

The board hired Durand at $35 an hour plus expenses - a total not to exceed $14,000 - to study whether the 911 center should be totally or partly consolidated and how those recommendations should be tackled.

The board wants Durand to study current 911 operations plus do a cost analysis and look at the future dispatch needs of all emergency services in the county.

She also will look at the possibility of a consolidated 911 center independent of the sheriff's office - and to outline the space, personnel, equipment and other requirements for such a venture.

If the board opts to go with a separate, consolidated 911 center, it expects that all current dispatchers will be retained with more possibly being added.