In the 30 years dispatcher Melissa Thomas has worked at Cowlitz County’s 911 center, it has been fully staffed once, and only for six months.
But since the call center became an independent agency almost a year ago, the dispatch staff has increased 50%, reducing the some of the stress and overtime involved in a high- intensity job.
“We’re feeling some relief,” Thomas said.
But there are other signs of progress. Plans are taking shape to build a new 911 dispatch center next to Lowe’s to replace the cramped and flood-vulnerable center in the Cowlitz Hall of Justice. And decision making, once divided among three governing bodies, has been streamlined.