911 dispatch problems put on hold for now
Funding problems continue to dog the Flathead County 911 system, and loss of its new director and ongoing antenna issues may be making a bad situation worse.
But while the 911 interlocal agreement was the top agenda item at the April 29 Fifth Monday meeting in Columbia Falls, the consensus between county and city officials was to just let things be until a new director is in place. Roger Laferriere, who was hired last September, resigned effective April 30 citing family issues.
“The feeling is to just keep things the way they are for now,” Columbia Falls city councilor and 911 advisory board member Mike Shepard told the officials from Flathead County, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish.
When asked by others if the system would work better under one board instead of several, and as one operation under Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry, Shepard replied, “That depends on who you talk to.”
Whitefish city manager Chuck Stearns described past meetings between the county and the cities over new funding mechanisms for the emergency dispatch system. One suggestion was a motor vehicle tax. Another was a mill levy, which would require a countywide vote, he said.
Kalispell city mayor Tammi Fisher said deciding between restructuring the system and finding a new source of money was “a chicken or the egg question.”
The 911 system’s budget for the next fiscal year could be 2 percent higher than last year’s $2.5 million. County voters approved a $6.9 million bond in 2008 to build a new 911 dispatch center and get it up and running. Unanticipated infrastructure repairs and problems with digital reception drove up costs.
“We assumed repair of the complete county communication system with no money,” Shepard said.
The 911 system has about $50,000 left in its capital fund, Shepard said, but it could be looking at spending three-quarters of a million dollars three years from now completely rebuilding the crucial antenna on Big Mountain. That could involve installing a fiberglass shell to protect the antenna structure and components from extreme weather conditions.
Meanwhile the Mount Aeneas antenna project is moving forward in addressing blank spots around Flathead Lake created when the 911 system went all-digital. The Federal Communications Commission recently approved a one-year permit for the county allowing a five-watt transmitter on Mount Aeneas in the same building the Optimum cable TV company uses.
A private helicopter transporting two county workers to the site crashed April 25, but there were no serious injuries. County communications manager Jack Spillman said the needed equipment should be installed at Mount Aeneas and be ready to run in a few weeks.