Director of 911 system steps down
The director of the 911 system for Flathead County and its cities is resigning as of late April.
Lisa Durand cited several demands on her time - her father's illness; her longtime business, the Three Dog Ranch kennel; and the time needed for the 911 director's post - as the reasons for her upcoming resignation as she tries to cut back on her obligations.
Durand had more than 20 years of experience in emergency dispatch services, with the majority of that time as a top-ranking official in several cities, before moving to Montana and setting up Three Dog Ranch.
The Flathead County-City 911 Administrative Board hired Durand as a consultant in December 2005 to study where and how the county's 911 system should be upgraded. That included the possibility of consolidating the 911 dispatch centers run by Flathead County, Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls.
In late spring 2006, the 911 board hired Durand as its full-time 911 system director. She was told to map out how to improve the system, find money to accomplish that task, continue studying the consolidation issue, and supervise the county's 911 dispatchers.
She ended up serving three bosses - the Flathead County sheriff, the Flathead County commissioners and the 911 board.
"Like anything else you start and don't finish, part of me wants to stay. But you can't do it all," Durand said.
Durand plans to spend her final weeks concentrating on merging the four 911 centers and on finding grant money to upgrade the emergency dispatch centers' equipment. The county commissioners and three city councils support the merger.
However, a new location and funding sources have not been identified yet.
Flathead County Administrator Mike Pence and the three city managers are expected to put together a board for the consolidated center by the end of March.
Those four will be in charge of hiring Durand's replacement. It is unknown whether her replacement will handle both the day-by-day supervision and the upgrading and relocation projects.