Upgrade of 911 system still stalled

Efforts to consolidate and upgrade the Flathead's emergency-dispatch system have bogged down, with the local 911 board trying to kick-start it back into motion.

A month ago, the Flathead City-County 911 Administrative Board approved hiring RCC Consultants of New Jersey for $33,500 to come up with a plan by mid-June.

Nothing has been done. In fact, the effort has stalled in a couple of ways.

First, the contract's legal paperwork - routed through the Flathead County government and requiring board Chairman Fred Leistiko's signature - did not reach him until Tuesday.

Consequently, no contract exists between RCC and the 911 board.

When an RCC representative arrived in Kalispell a couple of weeks ago, he showed little interest in the project because no contract existed. When local 911 officials drove through the county to check out potential building and tower sites, the RCC representative sat in a car and read a newspaper while others got out of the vehicle to scout locations, said Leistiko and Mark Peck, director of the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services.

On Tuesday, the 911 board members told Leistiko to hold off signing the RCC contract until at least June 12. They wanted first to check out a May 21 meeting of the state Northern Tier Interoperability Project counties.

That project's purpose is to connect all the federal, state and local law, emergency and other appropriate agencies in a statewide radio network. The Northern Tier is a subgroup of this effort covering Flathead County plus every county bordering Canada.

The 911 board wants to find out whether some of Flathead County's efforts could piggyback on the Northern Tier's buildings and towers.

In a related issue, Peck, county administrator Mike Pence, and the city managers of Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls have been meeting for five months about how to merge their four 911 centers according to a pact signed by all four governments.

Those talks have meandered and bogged down, Peck said.

"The frustrating thing that frustrates me to the point of almost blowing up … is we can't get a plan," he said

"For God's sakes, someone put the damn thing together," said Mike Shepherd, 911 board member and Whitefish council member.

The 911 board agreed with county Commissioner and board member Joe Brenneman's proposal that the county government put together a draft consolidation plan by June 12.