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Dispatch board discusses approach in changing agreement structure

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The Archuleta County Combined Dispatch Board continued to look at its structural agreement at its most recent meeting, following a change in operational oversight late last year.

In its last meeting of 2024, the board approved a resolution giving oversight of the dispatch center to the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO). The board opted not to have a final meeting in December 2024.

During the board’s first regular meeting of 2025, held on Jan. 9, board chair Jason Webb explained it “seems things are in a much better place” in regard to daily operations at the dispatch center.

He mentioned that some of the human resource-related things have gone away and it “sounds like things are going in the right direction,” with the new structure giving operational oversight to the ACSO.

“I think it was a benefit to not have that last meeting,” he added, mentioning it gave staff and board members the chance to settle in with new changes.

Webb also noted that it doesn’t feel like “a crisis time anymore.”

During the Jan. 9 meeting, the board continued its discussion on the best way to approach making changes to the intergovernmental agreement (IGA). 

“In the last few meetings, we’ve identified some shortfalls in the current IGA,” Webb said, commenting that he’d like the board to have discussion on how it wants to take on the project of restructuring the IGA, adding an open session “has its downfalls.”

He mentioned that in researching other dispatch boards, La Plata County has a committee instead of a board, which “takes things out of the open records purview.”

Archuleta County Sheriff Mike Le Roux mentioned that the “committee makes the same decisions as the board would.”

Board member and Pagosa Springs Medical Center CEO Rhonda Webb mentioned it was unclear to her what changes are being proposed and the reason for those changes.

“At the end of day, this board is governed by four other boards in this contract,” Jason Webb said of the current IGA.

“It was a big root cause of a lot of our struggles before and our inability to act,” he added.

Le Roux explained that currently with the resolution giving oversight to the sheriff’s office, the dispatch board is in a “hybrid” situation. 

“I just don’t think that the previous IGA was efficient,” Le Roux said, noting the agreement doesn’t need to be such a “hefty” document. 

Jason Webb added that the dispatch board has been in a “holding pattern” over the last year and a half and that the board was not making any forward movement.

“If anything we backslid, to be quite honest,” he said.

Interim Emergency Communications Director Elizabeth Blizzard explained that she has “been able to make a lot of good progress and a lot of good change” over the past three months with the resolution passed by the board giving the ACSO operational oversight of the dispatch center.

“I don’t want this board to have to be an operating board,” she said, mentioning that is what the board had become, handling things “that shouldn’t have ever come under your purview.”

She explained that the board is supposed to have oversight and be able to weigh in on decisions regarding purchases for the center, “but you’re not supposed to have to worry about whether any of your people are gonna get a person on the other end of the radio when they queue up.”

Blizzard added that she would like to review the IGA in its entirety and would prefer to have something more “functional,” so that the board members do not have to spend their days worrying if “dispatch was gonna implode.”

She encouraged the board to “take a really hard look” at the functionality of the current IGA and make changes to have “something that is efficient and functional.”

Le Roux commented that he has been “pretty vocal” in getting the dispatch board to where it is now, noting he is not in favor of changing things without reason.

“We’ve had more people at the helm of dispatch than we’ve had agency heads in most of the agencies,” Le Roux said, explaining there have been four or five different directors in the past eight years.

“It speaks for itself,” he added.

County Manager Jack Harper, also a board member, echoed Blizzard’s comments, noting that he “100 percent” agrees that the dispatch board’s purpose is to provide direction and give policy guidance, rather than taking on operational responsibilities.

The board discussed appointing current board members to a subcommittee to work on revising the current IGA.

Harper motioned to appoint board member and Pagosa Fire Protection District Chief Robert Bertam and Jason Webb to the subcommittee.

Harper also included that the board would consult with its legal council to see if it is possible to have a third member appointed to the subcommittee, noting that five members are needed for the board to have a quorum, requiring compliance with the state’s open meetings laws.

Harper indicated that if a third member is legally allowed to be appointed to the subcommittee, the third member will likely be Le Roux.

According to the Colorado law, all meetings of a quorum or three or more members of a body, which ever is fewer, at which any public business is discussed or at which any formal action may be taken must be open to the public unless an exception applies. 

Harper’s motion was unanimously approved by the board.

Data migration

During the Jan. 9 meeting, Blizzard also spoke about migrating the dispatch center’s data with its current software provider, Oracle.

She explained that the dispatch center is currently spending approximately $12,000 annually to have its data stored in an ID Network.

Blizzard noted that Oracle has a parallel system “that will take all of our data and store it.”

Le Roux indicated there is no additional cost to the dispatch center to have this service performed.

Meeting locations and chair

The board also unanimously approved its meeting schedule during its Jan. 9 meeting.

The board will meet on the first Thursday of every second month at 8:30 a.m., with the location of the meetings yet to be determined.

Jason Webb will serve as chair of the combined dispatch board for a second consecutive year, as unanimously approved by the board.

Jason Webb explained that the chair position has historically been a rotating position, with the county scheduled to serve as the next chair.

However, Harper commented that Jason Webb had offered to stay in the chair position to see through the transition of restructuring the board’s IGA.

“You have a great deal of insight,” Harper said.

clayton@pagosasun.com