Elected through Terror

Untitled Part 18

Another critical item on my agenda was 9-1-1.

By the end of 1985 all counties had to have a 9-1-1 plan into the State ready to be implemented the next year AND it had to be signed by every emergency provider in the county – and then some.

Wasco County had barely gotten started, they had hired a consultant to assist in the planning process, but that was about all.

City of The Dalles had been on the 9-1-1 system for several years, had a call center set up and was in compliance. The rest of the county was not.

There was a LOT of political work, as well as actual planning work, needed to get the entire county in agreement.

As Sheriff, it was incumbent on me to be deeply involved in this process. I only had a couple of people in my Office who I could have assigned to the job, but they had too much on their plate already and I couldn't trust the one or two that had more time on their hands, to do the job.

The 9-1-1 plan took several hundred hours of my time that first year. Not only did we have meetings at every volunteer fire agency, as I recall now about eight programs, but we also had to meet with all the City Councils in the county.

Some of the phone lines in the lower part of the county went into Jefferson County's system. So we had that county's committee AND the Warm Springs Indian Reservation's (some of it is in Wasco County and some of their lines also went into Jefferson County,) Fire and Police Chief as well as the Tribal Council who had to sign off.

The people in the rural portions of Wasco County did not trust or like The Dalles. Except for the Rajneesh, no one trusted the Rajneesh – and they too had to sign off on it since they controlled two cities. We had to overcome all of this if we were to get the thing signed.

There was a couple of people on The Dalles City Council that had made it plain to the rest of the county that The Dalles should be in charge and the rest just sign off on it. There was even a demand that all the fire departments in the county had to contribute money for the operation.

I was diametrically opposed to that. First they wouldn't have that many calls, and second with the exception of The City of The Dalles Police and Fire Depts., Wasco Rural Fire Department and the Sheriff's Office the rest of emergency providers – fire and ambulance - were all volunteers.

They had very little funding, if any, and it wouldn't be fair to them. Frankly I thought it was stupid (so did the County Commmissioners.)

Fortunately, the The Dalles City Manager agreed with me and the two of us worked very hard to get the whole thing together – EVERY entity had to sign off on the plan. And, each wanted to protect their program's integrity and keep from being under the thumb of The Dalles City Council.

I had always like the City Manager while I worked for the City, didn't always agree with him and we had some heated discussions (which wasn't my place to have, but he didn't hold it against me) but I learned to appreciate him even more during this process. Without his hard work and reputation with the City Council it wouldn't have gotten done, at least not as smoothly.

I, personally as Sheriff, had to meet individually with people in the volunteer departments, listening to their concerns and assuring them I understood those concerns and would work to make sure the integrity and individuality of their department was not damaged by the agreement. Lots of meetings, lots of miles and lots of time.

More on 911 at a later date.