For the week of August 27 - September 2, 2003

Wrinkle forms in 911 center control plan

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By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

A wrinkle formed in the future management plan for a countywide emergency services dispatch and communications center this month when the county’s mayors diverged from a plan that was established by the Blaine County Commission in July.

The Blaine County Commission on July 7 voted unanimously to approve a governing model for the countywide dispatch and communications center, a step in the larger task of establishing emergency 911 services throughout Blaine County.

As part of the governing model, the county’s five mayors were to select three candidates to fill one seat on the five-member emergency services dispatch and communications center governing board. The Blaine County Commission was to have final authority over which of the three candidates would be appointed to the seat.

However, the valley’s mayors have only selected one candidate, Ketchum City Administrator Ron LeBlanc, said Len Harlig, chairman of the Wood River-Sawtooth Region EMS Association.

"It’s about control," observed Blaine County Commissioner Mary Ann Mix. "It’s disappointing. To change the rules is disappointing to me."

"Sure it’s about control," added Commissioner Dennis Wright. "How else could you read it?"

Commissioners discussed the issue with Harlig during a monthly public update about the efforts toward establishing E-911 and a consolidated dispatch center.

Harlig said all parties involved had agreed on the strategy for designation of board members, "but apparently the agreement did not hold."

"Somebody is driving this train off the tracks, and I don’t know who it is," Harlig said. "This has turned out to be a much bigger endeavor than any of us expected or understood."

County voters approved the E-911 system last November, enabling a $1-per-month charge to be assessed on each telephone line in the county to fund the project. By December 2004, the land-line and a separate cellular telephone tax are predicted to bring in $626,600.

The new Blaine County Communications Center is to be governed by a board composed of the Blaine County Sheriff, the county’s EMS medical director and two representatives of the county’s fire and law enforcement agencies.

The fifth member was to be selected by the Blaine County Commission from among three nominees selected by the five cities’ mayors.

"To me, if we send a qualified person, what’s the difference?" asked Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon. "Let’s just get this thing done and get it going."

Simon said the five mayors had lunch together last week and unanimously selected LeBlanc. If the county commissioners have a problem with the mayors’ decision, he said, "they can reject the name."

Harlig said Ketchum Fire Chief Greg Schwab was selected by the county’s fire chiefs, and police chiefs are attempting to choose between Ketchum Police Chief Cory Lyman and Sun Valley Police Chief Cam Daggett.

If Lyman and LeBlanc are confirmed, Ketchum employees would hold three of the five seats on the county-wide board.

 

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