City, county on board for joint dispatch center

After years of talk and false starts, Lewiston and Nez Perce County officials are all finally on board to begin the process of creating a joint, and possibly regional, emergency dispatch operation.

All the Lewiston city councilors and county commissioners who attended a virtual joint meeting Thursday agreed they should hire a consultant to study how to consolidate independent city and county dispatch centers.

Interim Nez Perce County Emergency Management Director Bill Reynolds jumped at the chance to promote an idea that failed to gain traction in the past because of factors like territorialism and union concerns over possible staff reductions.

“We have some phenomenal employees and leaders here who are ready to create a plan to take us down that road,” Reynolds said, noting several concerns will have to be addressed, especially who will run the center. “And we can vet each one of those points to make sure our agencies are covered and that our citizens have responsible service.”

Reynolds, who serves as chairman of the city-county Emergency Communications Joint Powers Board, suggested the board could be the best entity to engage with a consultant. The board meets in two weeks, and county Commissioner Douglas Zenner — who also sits on the board — asked that seeking a consultant be included on the agenda.

Lewiston City Manager Alan Nygaard said while he supports the move toward joint dispatch, a study should go further and consider including areas outside the jurisdiction of the Emergency Communications Joint Powers Board. That could include neighboring counties in both Idaho and Washington, leading to a truly regional approach that could pool funding from several different agencies to build, equip and staff a dispatch center.

County Commissioner Don Beck said the board should at least begin working on that scope, even though it might not be able to approve funding for a consultant right away. Several officials noted their desire to protect expensive law enforcement infrastructure like computer servers from flooding by moving police headquarters from the downtown area to higher ground, and a new joint facility could address that concern.

“I think we need to jump on this as an opportunity to get things moving in the right direction,” Beck said.

Former city officials have resisted previous requests by the county to work toward joint dispatch. But Lewiston Police Department Chief Budd Hurd and Lewiston Fire Department Chief Travis Myklebust offered their support Thursday. And Reynolds said Nez Perce County Sheriff Joe Rodriguez also is on board.

Myklebust noted that escalating costs for necessities like technology and qualified staff may force communities in the region to consolidate their operations in the future. Getting ahead of that pressure by conducting the consolidation on a local level might be a good move, he said.

“I’d rather be driving the bus than be a passenger on the bus.”

In other business:

The county commissioners agreed to look at the amount the Lewiston Fire Department charges Nez Perce County for emergency medical services. The contract between the city and county hasn’t changed in a decade, and Myklebust said rates may need to go up because of increased personnel, equipment and supply costs.

Nygaard promoted the city’s partnership with local economic development agencies on Rock the Rebound, a program to encourage businesses to follow U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to limit the spread of coronavirus as they reopen over the next several weeks.

Information on the program is available at rockingtherebound.com. Nygaard said local medical professionals will be out and about in the community to encourage people to follow the same guidelines as they fully reenter the economy.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.