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.