In this Sept. 11, 2012, file photo, sunglasses reflect the computer screens in front of a Lewis County 911 Communications Center dispatcher as she takes a call during a Friday night shift. The center is located on the top floor of the Lewis County Courthouse.
Lewis County 911 Manager Dave Anderson announced his resignation Tuesday, leaving the post after two and a half turbulent years, according to internal memos obtained by The Chronicle.
“Through all the hurdles and hardships, I have achieved what I set out to accomplish, and then some,” Anderson wrote. “I can hold my head high knowing I prevailed in some of the most difficult of circumstances.”
Anderson’s resignation will be effective on Aug. 30.
In a separate memo, Emergency Management Director Steve Mansfield thanked Anderson for his service, while acknowledging the instability of his tenure.
“It was a very tumultuous time, a time of challenge and controversy which always follows change,” he wrote. “Dave’s commitment and efforts helped ensure we have the very best technology in providing critical life safety services for the public.”
Anderson was named the interim 911 manager in early 2016, before taking on the role full-time later that year. During his time leading the dispatch center, partner emergency response agencies complained about the unit’s effectiveness, citing poor management and low staffing levels. Internally, dispatchers took a vote of no confidence in Anderson, complaining of a substandard work environment.
During that controversy, Anderson’s team was moved under the umbrella of Emergency Management Director Steve Mansfield in March of last year. Mansfield said at the time that his job was to “reset their mission.” Since then, the county and the 911 center’s partner agencies have adopted a new interlocal agreement designed to address ongoing concerns, an effort led by Mansfield.
In a phone interview, Mansfield defended Anderson and said his tenure had been unfairly characterized.
“He’s worked extremely hard in helping us turn this sinking ship around,” he said. “He came in here during a very difficult time, and that was not his doing.”
Anderson also told The Chronicle he was proud of his time at the center.
“I definitely want to make sure that [my successor] has the right tools, because when I came here there was really nobody left, nobody to show me the ropes,” he said. “I just feel really sorry for those who said I couldn’t, because they’re eating a lot of crow right now.”
Mansfield and Anderson rejected the notion that Anderson was pressured out by the 911 center’s partner agencies.
“This was not the user group’s decision to push him out of here. Dave and I talked about that, and he has some reasons for leaving,” Mansfield said. “He’s not being run out of here. There’s people in the user group who would like to see me do that.”
Anderson said he took the role while getting his bachelor’s degree at Centralia College, and initially only intended to stay for six months. He stayed on longer because of the “vitally important work” that needed to happen. He called the county’s certification earlier this month as a Next Generation 911 center — allowing it to receive voice, photo, video and text messages in the future — as his “capstone project.”
In March, he approached Mansfield about his resignation, hoping to leave and pursue a Master’s degree. Mansfield persuaded Anderson to stay on until August and credited him for handling the Next Generation 911 effort during that time, which required $1 million in upgrades. His memo also outlined a transition plan in which Anderson will continue working on collective bargaining agreement contract negotiations until his departure, as well as developing a policy and procedure manual and handling outside inquiries.
Lingering issues still shroud the 911 center as Anderson departs. The county is moving toward building a new dispatch center, and pending replacement of aging infrastructure is going to come at a heavy cost. Mansfield told partners in April that the county will need to find grant money or raise rates to user agencies to meet the need long-term.
“We can’t make do with what we have here,” he said. “You’ve all told me we don’t have the funding to pay for this.”
That effort may be complicated if the dispatch center loses several of its biggest partners. Centralia, Chehalis and the Riverside Fire Authority recently conducted a study looking at the possibility of creating a Twin Cities 911 center and withdrawing from the county partnership. Results found the move to be feasible but expensive.
Mansfield called the proposal “another article for another day,” adding: “I ain’t backing down on that either.”
Centralia Police Chief Carl Nielsen told council members Tuesday that the city will likely end up bearing heavy costs regardless, as it will need to pay in for upgrades on the county’s 911 center. He noted that much of the infrastructure expense will come from the mountainous terrain on the east side of the county, concerns that wouldn’t affect a separate dispatch center in the flatter terrain along the I-5 corridor.
Following the meeting, Nielsen referred to ongoing communication issues and referenced a personnel change that appeared to be directed at Anderson’s departure.
“In my opinion, it’s the most important position there,” he said. “Highly controversial in the past. And we had no input on a replacement.”
Nielsen did not return a follow-up call for comment, nor did Riverside Fire Authority Chief Mike Kytta. That pair negotiated the new 911 interlocal agreement with Mansfield, and were elected chair and vice chair of the pact’s advisory body.
Chehalis Fire Chief Ken Cardinale declined to comment when reached Thursday, and Chehalis Police Chief Glenn Schaffer did not respond to an email request.
Mansfield said he will take partners’ input into consideration as he looks for Anderson’s replacement, but the disparate views of the many agencies involved will always leave some frustrated.
“I can’t bring every single fire chief and every single police chief in here, because they all have a very different opinion,” he said. “I have never turned anyone away that had input, that had suggestions. I am not going to do something that is irresponsible because one person wants it that way. … Am I going to make everybody happy with who we bring in here? Heck no. Am I going to make sure that the person we bring in here is going to be able to meet our public safety mission? Heck yeah.”
Other staff, including Mansfield, will take on Anderson’s duties “until a final decision is made on the 911 Manager’s position,” he wrote in the staff memo. “I anticipate resolving this by the end of the year.” Mansfield said he foresaw “minimal impact” to the center’s operations.
Reporter Will Rubin contributed to this story.
