Four finalists in running for emergency director

The Flathead County Office of Emergency Services will soon have a new permanent director.

A subcommittee has narrowed the field of applicants from roughly 20 down to a final group of four, including Cal Beringer, the current interim director and Flathead County Sheriff’s Office patrol commander. Rounding out the group are Kalispell resident Chris Amyes, Los Angeles resident Roger Leferriere and Missouri resident Corey Sloan.

“I would anticipate that a decision will be made in the next few days,” Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.

Curry is chairman of the OES administrative board and is leading the subcommittee in charge of hiring the new director. He and other subcommittee members completed the final interviews for each of the four remaining candidates Wednesday morning.

Beringer, 56, grew up in the county and surrounding area before moving to King County, Wash., where he also served in law enforcement. He said he wasn’t planning to seek the full-time position when he originally accepted the interim title offered to him by Commissioner Jim Dupont.

“Initially, I looked and it and said there’s a lot of things there I don’t know anything about, so I better not get involved,” Beringer said. “Then after being up there for a few months I saw how the management, the research, the implementation and getting the people involved is very similar to what I’ve been involved in through the past 26 years in law enforcement.”

He also thought it would be fulfilling to finish his career doing something that would benefit the valley.

Beringer said what sets him apart is that he already knows the people and leaders involved, they know him and they know he brings all those people on board when trying to solve problems.

“There’s too many managers that come in and think they have a solution and they implement it without doing the research, both internally and externally, to come up with solutions that are really community based,” he said.

Amyes, 55, has lived in Kalispell for the last five years but was born and raised in Los Angeles.

He retired from the Diplomatic Security Service in the U.S Department of State in 2007 after a 20-year career managing security programs in Columbia, Gabon, Guatemala and Vietnam. He also managed programs in several U.S. locations.

Most recently, Amyes was employed by a private-sector security and investigations firms working with Hollywood productions and actor security.

Amyes said his security service work is similar to the requirements of the OES job in that it involved managing emergency action plans at foreign embassies.

“The way I see it, it is a support function to emergency responders,” he said of the director position. “So you’d have the first responders — fire, police, EMS — and whoever fills this position is supporting them, first and foremost, providing a structure of communication so they can talk to each other. Secondly, you’re working with them in an emergency or an incident command environment and giving the incident commander what he needs to deal with the situation.”

Laferriere, 49, found out about the job opening while looking for emergency services director positions online. He said he has always had a fondness for Montana and has been visiting every year for 30 years. His brother lives in Bozeman and owns a cabin on Seeley Lake.

He was born and raised in Massachusetts before joining the U.S. Coast Guard after graduating from high school.

During his 25 years with the Coast Guard, Laferriere worked at both the BP and Exxon Valdez oil spills and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He now works for a company doing global crisis management.

“I loved the Coast Guard because I’m a person that loves public service,” Laferriere said. “When I left there to go to this other job, I was missing the element of public service. To me, there’s nothing more rewarding than being able to help my fellow citizens or people that are in trouble.”

He said he is unique among the candidates in that he has a lot of experience with large and small incidents as an emergency responder through his work with the Coast Guard.

“I hope I have an opportunity to come and live in this great place,” Laferriere said.

Sloan was unavailable for comment due to weather delays in his flight to the valley and business engagements that required he leave as soon as soon as his interview was over Wednesday morning. He is the chief of police and director of emergency services in the town where he lives in Missouri.

According to Curry, the last full-time director earned a yearly salary of roughly $70,000, and he expects the new director will be paid a similar salary.