Organizers consider size of new 911 board

Six board members or seven?

Local elected, law and fire officials stalled Thursday on the size of a new countywide board to supervise the new 911 center.

The ad hoc committee is hammering out an agreement on how Flathead County, Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls will run a new joint 911 dispatch center.

That includes replacing the current Flathead City-County 911 Administrative Board with a new board.

A draft consolidation agreement has been written, with city and county officials discussing it Thursday.

The main sticking point is whether the new board should have six or seven members.

The draft agreement has six: the sheriff, a county commissioner, someone appointed by the county commissioners, and one elected official each from Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

The committee deadlocked over whether the committee should add an extra member to put seven on the board - guaranteeing no 3-3 ties.

No one could agree Thursday on how a potential seventh member should be selected -or on whether a four-person majority is desirable for a six-member board to take action.

The draft agreement also calls for an eight- or nine-person advisory committee to handle technical issues while the main board takes care of policy and budget matters.

The advisory committee proposal calls for one sheriff's representative, one fire or police representative each from the three cities, a rural fire district representative, an emergency-medical representative, the dispatch supervisor, and one or two members of the public.

Last November, Flathead voters narrowly approved a $6.9 million bond issue to build a consolidated 11,800-square-foot 911 center in northwestern Kalispell.

If bonds are issued for $6.9 million, that will translate to a $12.48 annual increase in property taxes on a $200,000 house.

However, the latest construction estimate is $6.376 million. A $6.376 million bond issue would mean a smaller property tax increase.

The timetable is for bids to be sought on March 12 with contractors turning in bids by March 31. The contract is expected to be awarded in early April. The current 911 board aims for a Dec. 31 completion of the building.

The new center's estimated annual operating cost of $2.137 million is roughly equal or slightly less than the combined costs of operating four separate dispatch facilities.

The state will provide $500,000 a year. The draft agreement calls for the county to shoulder roughly $1 million of the annual operating costs, with the three cities splitting the rest.