$6.9 million bond issue proposed

A proposed consolidated 911 dispatch center for Flathead County could cost as much as $6.9 million.

If county voters approve that bond package in November, that translates to an annual property tax of $12.44 on a home assessed at $200,000.

County resident Diane Edder told the Flathead City-County 911 Administrative Board on Tuesday: "You run the risk of a voters' rebellion when you let it balloon to that size."

The 911 project's coordinator, Mark Peck, replied: "I think we were as shocked as you were when the design costs came back. I took a deep breath when the costs came out."

The 911 board is getting ready to begin a campaign to persuade the public to approve the bond request in November.

That campaign is being launched today at a press conference. The board discussed the bond referendum at its Tuesday meeting.

"We've got one shot at this. We've got to get it done," board member Turner Askew said.

If the bond referendum falls, Plan B is to cram updated dispatch equipment for a consolidated dispatch center into the basement of the Flathead County Justice Center in Kalispell.

Right now, there are four emergency dispatch centers in Flathead County.

Flathead County's 911 center - operated by the Sheriff's Office - handles law-enforcement calls for rural unincorporated Flathead County, plus all fire and ambulance calls.

Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls each have dispatch centers for their own police departments.

The four centers have problems coordinating calls with the Flathead's hodgepodge of jurisdictions and levels of service. The current dispatch equipment also is outdated.

Entering the summer, Peck had been doing his own calculations, coming up with a soft estimate of $2.9 million for a 6,000-square-foot center on state land south of the U.S. Forest Service building, which is just south of Glacier High School.

Since then, CTA Architect Engineers mapped out designs, concluding that to cover every conceivable cost would be $6.9 million.

That is for an 11,800-square-foot extra-hardened building, which would include a four-bay equipment storage structure. It also includes the land costs, multiple communications systems, backup systems in case the main systems fail, and specialized air venting to keep the equipment in top shape.

The Flathead's emergency calls have been increasing drastically.

Sheriff's Office calls have roughly doubled from 2005 to 2007, according to the office's dispatch statistics. And the 2008 calls in each month are significantly greater than each month's 2007 figures.

The cities' dispatch calls are increasing at a similar rate, board members from the three towns said.

Kalispell police Chief Roger Nasset said the number of serious calls is also increasing.

Peck said: "We're hitting maximum capacity. … I can't stress enough how critical this bond issue is."

The county commissioners plus the three city councils are tentatively expected to meet Sept. 29 to discuss how they will support the bond campaign.