The Archuleta County Combined Dispatch Emergency Communications Executive Management Board held a work session on June 11, to discuss proposed changes to the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between the agencies that support and use dispatch.
Those include the Town of Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC), Upper San Juan Health Service District and Pagosa Fire Protection District (PFPD).
The proposed changes were brought forward by board member and Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux.
“It’s a simple proposal, but, really, what I was looking to do was see about transitioning dispatch operationally to fall under as a division of the sheriff’s office,” Le Roux said.
He explained that the dispatch center employees are currently classified as Archuleta County employees, but not under the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO).
“The proposal would be that dispatch staff would become sheriff’s office staff rather than county staff,” Le Roux added, explaining that he would be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations of the dispatch center.
He also mentioned that the county’s emergency management and detentions staff falls under the ACSO.
“It just makes sense,” Le Roux said, noting that dispatch center employees are now considered a first-response agency.
He went on to mention the proximity of the dispatch center to the ACSO building and the amount of involvement the ACSO has with the dispatch center on a day-to-day basis due to taking in about 50 percent of the dispatch centers calls.
Le Roux also mentioned his background with emergency services, noting he is familiar with how emergency service networks and radios operate.
“Really, I’m not sure that the current structure supports the team operationally,” Le Roux said, explaining the ACSO has a “vested interest” with receiving a large percentage of the dispatch calls.
Le Roux explained that the role of the emergency communications executive management board would remain the same in its governance role and would still be in charge of drafting the annual budget for the dispatch center.
Le Roux indicated that if the changes are approved, the ACSO would become responsible for hiring and maintaining staff at the dispatch center.
He explained that the ACSO plans to support the emergency communications director position and provide a “peer group” to work with other command staff.
“We have some inefficiencies,” Le Roux said, explaining he believes the proposed changes would help address some of those inefficiencies.
“Right now we are disproportionately engaged with how things run here operationally as the sheriff’s office,” Le Roux said.
Board chair and Pagosa Springs Medical Center Director of EMS Jason Webb clarified that the work session was for discussion only and if the board wished to move forward with implementing the changes, the item would need to be placed as an action item on the agenda for the next regular meeting.
“I think this board was made a governance board, not an operational board,” Webb said, explaining there are “definitely times” when operational things come up, which presents challenges.
Board member and PFPD Fire Chief Robert Bertram indicated that the previous four districts he worked for all had dispatch centers being run by their respective sheriff’s offices.
Pagosa Springs Police Department Chief and board member Bill Rockensock provided the board with some insight on how the current structure in the IGA came to be, initially in 2009.
He explained that dispatch used to be under the ACSO, but there was a “disagreement” about the way things were being run.
He explained that the entities worked many hours to collaborate on an agreement on how dispatch functions would be handled.
Rockensock noted, “At the time, the sheriff was no longer wanting to be the sole provider of dispatch” and the other entities were not wanting to provide additional funding to dispatch without having any “say-so” in functionality of dispatch, including hiring and firing.
He indicated for those reasons, the combined dispatch board was created to operate independently from each entity.
“It was basically because of the day-to-day functions in how dispatch was being run,” Rockensock said.
He went on to explain that “the whole goal” was to have a dispatch operations manager in place and that the dispatch center could eventually operate on its own so that the board doesn’t need to have input on day-to-day operations.
“None of us should have to think about day-to-day operational stuff, honestly. I mean, that was the whole goal,” Rockensock said.
Archuleta County Interim County Manager Jack Harper questioned how these changes would affect pay scales.
Le Roux explained that the ACSO currently falls under the county’s general fund and the dispatch center does not. So, the budget process would stay the same, but it would give Emergency Communications Director Devin Moffat the ability to report directly to the sheriff or undersheriff for daily reports and day-to-day updates.
“I think it’s always been tough from the director position,” Le Roux said.
Moffat spoke about his experience working with a county-based dispatch center, a dispatch center under a sheriff’s office and a private dispatch center.
Moffat explained that he does not have any concerns with the way the dispatch center is currently operating, but shared what he thought could become future concerns.
He noted that being under an elected official, like the sheriff position, can propose potential problems, depending on what each new sheriff may or may not want to incorporate into the dispatch center’s functions.
Moffat explained that when he was initially interviewed and hired for his position, it was made clear to him that the dispatch center was looking for someone with dispatch experience and someone “who knows how to run it.”
He went on to mention that with elected officials, you don’t always know what their background will be.
“I think, you know, there’s very few qualifications for someone running for office — that unpredictability is a concern moving forward from where we are now,” Moffat said.
He noted that at the previous board meeting on June 6, Le Roux expressed concern for already being supervisor-heavy.
“Adding two additional layers of reporting to that seems to be counter-intuitive,” he added.
Rockensock spoke to Moffat’s concerns, recalling that “things changed” with newly elected officials wanting to implement different things.
He noted that hasn’t been an issue as of recently.
“I think we’ve all seen how elected officials can issue mandates without the consensus of a board, whether it is in writing or not,” Moffat said, clarifying that he was not speaking about anyone present.
“This board was never meant to be operational. This board was meant to govern the director, who was supposed to run everything else, and we weren’t even supposed to be having this conversation,” Rockensock said.
Le Roux commented the current situation requires the board to perform more operational duties rather than focusing on its governance aspect, leading to inefficiencies in the dispatch center and board.
Harper spoke more about his concern with being able to hire and retain dispatch employees, noting that whatever the outcome is, he would like to see something specific for how the dispatch center can hire and retain more employees.
“I just don’t see how it’s sustainable,” Harper said.
Webb spoke on some concerns he’s seen with current dispatch employees not being sure about if they are actually employed through the county or through the dispatch center.
Rockensock explained that when this IGA was originally set up, the county was the fiscal agent only and the town paid for human resources service and attorney services.
“To be honest with you, it came down to giving raises one year,” Rockensock said, explaining that one year the board decided to give raises to dispatch employees, but the BoCC at the time shot it down.
Le Roux mentioned that it doesn’t seem like there has been a time when the dispatch center has run seamlessly.
Harper mentioned that one of his main concerns is being able to provide the director and staff the support they need.
“What I don’t want is ... any employees to feel like they’re on an island,” he said, noting he has heard concerns of that being the case currently.
“I found it to be very disconnected to how it currently is,” Webb said in terms of how things are handled within a public safety department, noting you have to coordinate with people from multiple different entities.
Le Roux spoke about the community’s growth, but that he feels “we’re small enough still” that the entities can manage.
“We’ve had a lot of operations and management questions come up,” Le Roux said, explaining that some of those concerns could be addressed rather quickly compared to current timelines that take months in order to bring everything to the board.
“I think the structure now doesn’t allow for a minimal decision-making process for whatever problems arise,” Le Roux said, suggesting there are things that don’t need to take that long.
Moffat indicated he reports to the county manager when problems arise, following the county’s standard procedure.
Le Roux went on to express his concerns for being able to dispatch 24/7 with constantly having vacancies in dispatch positions.
Le Roux noted that he is not sure when the last time Archuleta County has not been able to do so and that he does not want to be a part of the first board to let that happen.
“So, now, if somebody’s sick, we’re done,” Le Roux said.
Webb also spoke about how the board is supposed to perform a performance evaluation report on Moffat.
He noted that as the person that “sees Devin the most” he felt he was not able to answer some of the questions on the evaluation.
“I think there’s merit to what the sheriff’s brought up. It’s something I’m used to, but I’m also really, really listening to what the chief [Rockensock] said and looking at historical factors,” Harper said.
He noted that the current structure is “wonky” and puts the director and chair in difficult positions.
“Whatever we do, I think it needs to be streamlined,” Harper said.
Le Roux explained that he is proposing a “hybrid” solution that would help eliminate some confusion internally and save time in taking care of the day-to-day operations of the dispatch center. The executive board would still have the ability to interject and make some of the “higher-level” decisions, such as drafting the budget.
“At the end of the day, if we don’t like what Mike’s doing, the scenario, we can change it. The board still has that authority,” Webb said.
In a later interview with Webb, he explained that he is in support of the proposed changes brought forward by Le Roux.
“There’s a lot of operational needs and oversight that have been identified that probably need to be followed closely by somebody in public safety,” Webb said.
He added that he believes the board needs to “really evaluate” the current structure of the dispatch center in order to become more efficient in its operations.
He explained the current structure makes it so you “have to have a meeting to do anything,” noting that requires adhering to the Colorado Open Meetings Law.
Webb mentioned that adhering to the open meetings law is not the issue, but that, “Some of these things don’t require a whole meeting.”
Webb also spoke about how it would make sense for the ACSO to absorb the dispatch employees, given the ACSO “has the most need for continuity and secured information through the dispatch center.”
Webb also explained that the board would be able to change the IGA again if it finds the proposed changes by Le Roux to not be working as planned.
“If we are identifying that it is hard to accomplish operational things with the way the board structure is, the sheriff seems to make sense for those reasons,” Webb added, mentioning the amount of involvement and proximity of the ACSO to the dispatch center.
Webb also indicated that the ACSO is currently leasing the building to the dispatch center.
“So, he has the building basically,” he said.
Webb mentioned again that if the proposed changes are adopted, the board would embrace its governance role, focusing less on operational issues as the director of the dispatch center would report to the ACSO instead of to the board at large.
“The broad proposal, I support,” Webb said, explaining how he would like to see more details of the proposed changes worked out.
“I found it very challenging to manage the dispatch center with our current structure,” Webb stated.
The board has the option to vote on the matter at its next regular board meeting, scheduled for July 9, according to Webb.
clayton@pagosasun.com
