(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors this (Tues.) morning approved a merger of the county’s Emergency Management Commission and 911 Service Board. Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret says a new state law makes the merger possible. He says it will help streamline operations of the two entities…
“It would just get us down to having one meeting, one agenda, one set of minutes and we can still accomplish all the same things we’ve been doing for 100 years.”
Ehret says it will result in some different faces coming on with the merged board…
“The code says for the 911 Board if a fire district has territory in that county then they have a voting spot on the 911 Board. In our case that’s May City and Everly. But again, May City comes rarely and I’ve yet to see Everly come. And I don’t blame them. The meetings are short, it’s a long way for them to drive and all that. So they would no longer have a seat at the table. The flip side of that is that currently Wahpeton, West Okoboji and Orleans do not have a seat on the 911 Board because they don’t have their own public safety entity, they don’t have a Police Department, Fire Department, so now they would have a vote on 911 matters.”
Ehret added both the Emergency Management Commission and 911 Service Board also approved the merger.
