Humboldt County commissioners discussed the county's top three budget priorities at their retreat Jan. 27 and two of them had to do with emergency communications.
The budget discussion included considerable worry about revenue shortages next year. But their discussions included commitment to follow through with the pathway for emergency communications improvement recommended by outside consultants.
Humboldt County is getting help from the experts on several different facets of the emergency communication system.
Evaluations are continuing on the dispatch center and procedures, medical dispatch is being tracked with a new Pro Q&A national standards computer program and dispatch supervision and training changes are being implemented.
Members of the Abaris communications consulting firm are meeting with county leadership and a local strategic working group to evaluate dispatch and emergency communications. The strategic working group, including representatives from the sheriff's office, police department, hospital, emergency medical services, fire departments, Mike Bell and Bill Deist met for the second time Jan. 29.
Consulting engineers are visiting each of the mountaintop microwave locations to catalog what equipment is there, note how well it is working, and what changes or additions need to be made for the system to function better.
"So far, they haven't found a smoking gun," according to county communications tech Rick Grantham, who said the visits by CSI engineers haven't turned up any huge issues, "just some small additions and adjustments, so far."
Grantham said he has already benefited from being able to consult with other engineers and he's already started working on some of their suggestions.
CSI evaluated Humboldt County Communications about a decade ago, said Grantham. At that time, some of the deficiencies they noted were tied to the dispatch center location inside Humboldt County Jail.
The new dispatch center has solved many of the issues noted in that report but with more communications users, the change to digital radios and need for equipment upgrades, there are still many areas in need of improvement, the sheriff said.
Kilgore noted the strategic working group and consultants are considering taking dispatch from sheriff's department supervision and combining it with all other county communications under one supervisor. Just how that would work hasn't been determined and would depend on whether the county could hire someone with a background strong in both engineering and emergency communications.
The shortage of dispatchers and insufficient screening and training noted by the Abaris study is also being addressed. Dispatch supervisor Sherry McDaniel is working toward her national certification.
"We've hired two dispatchers who have passed the background, written test and an oral board, and are sailing through training; another is coming on. Since I came on board, we've revamped training to make it flow more smoothly and more uniformly," McDaniel said.
"Our goal is to have our dispatch center recognized as an accredited center of excellence by the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch," said Kilgore.
County Commissioner Mike Bell, head of the hospital's information technology department, has helped push for long-term strategic planning and continual evaluation and improvement of county emergency communications. The communications department is down to just Grantham with occasional consulting help from former communications director Paul Burkholder.
"I believe we'll have to fully staff the communications department," said Bell, adding two more people would need to be hired.
"We know we can't afford to do everything at once, but if we keep it a top priority and move forward with a strategic plan, we'll get there," said Deist.[[In-content Ad]]
