With big changes headed for Central Oregon emergency agencies, the chiefs of the Bend Police and Bend Fire departments want greater authority on Deschutes 911, which handles their dispatch calls.

Deschutes 911 works with 15 police and emergency agencies, including the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office and the Bend Police and Bend Fire departments. It’s a standalone taxing entity that receives administrative services from the Deschutes County government.

Its members include the chiefs of the agencies it works with, and its governance model has shifted numerous times since it was formed in the 1990s. Under the latest operating agreement, drafted in 2015, these members give input and serve in an “advisory” role, and don’t vote on action items or have hiring and firing authority over the Deschutes 911 director.

But over the past four years, Deschutes 911 has also taken on some record-keeping management duties that once belonged to the member agencies.

Bend’s legal department is drafting an amendment to the existing management agreement that would give members who use the service greater authority, rather than the “advisory” role they have now.

And with half of all Deschutes 911 calls going to Bend Fire and Bend Police — and some member agencies receiving far less — the city of Bend is looking to adjust its influence on the board.

“There are some proportionality challenges,” said City Manager Eric King. “(The city is) just one of many stakeholders, and it’s important to get input from all sides.”

The backdrop is a looming tech transition, and serious problems with a new, $4 million radio system from Harris Corp.

Deschutes 911 is preparing to move to a new Tyler-brand computer-aided dispatch system. The new software will feature updated mapping that will display where every firefighter and officer is, and provide first responders the most direct and fastest routes.

In July, Deschutes 911 went live on an analog-to-digital switch with the Harris system that quickly frustrated officers and dispatchers alike, and resulted in the Bend Police rank-and-file filing a grievance with Oregon OSHA. Then last month, Deschutes 911 Director Steve Reinke resigned. HisNo. 2, Sara Crosswhite, was named interim director.

Bend Fire Chief Larry Langston told The Bulletin his department still intends to move to Harris by the fall, and he wants to avoid the problems encountered by his counterparts in law enforcement.

“If we’re going to turn this over to 911 then I, for one, would like some real input,” he said.

Bend Police Chief Jim Porter has been outspoken in his frustration that his officers had concerns with the new radio system that were ignored.

He said Tuesday he’d like clear formal lines of communication with the 911 director.

“I think government does better when it’s not ad hoc,” he said. “I think government works better when there’s clear procedure and process.”

Porter said his intention isn’t to direct policy on the board, but to ensure his department’s input is heard.

“Quite frankly, over the past two years, we’ve had struggles with our input,” Porter said. “This has resulted in extra financial cost to us. This has resulted in us having to bring in outside consultants to get problems taken care of.”

In 2015, consultants Red Hawk were retained to investigate a failed computer-aided dispatch transition in 2015, and recently, Sparling Corp. was brought in to evaluate what went wrong with Harris.

County Administrator Tom Anderson said he doesn’t want to go back to the system in place prior to 2015, which gave authority to all the chiefs on the board.

“I remember going to grievance hearings for personnel matters at 911,” he said. “It was brutal.”

Any amendment forwarded by the city would have to be approved by the Deschutes County Commission, which is bound by the operating agreement with Deschutes 911. And that could be difficult.

Commissioner Tony DeBone was at Tuesday’s user board meeting. He said he wouldn’t want every board member to have hiring and firing power over the 911 director, though he conceded he was just “thinking out loud.”

“We want our customers to be happy,” he said of the chiefs. “But I don’t think too many people need to have input over (the director’s) daily duties and responsibilities.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com