County merges emergency planning with sheriff's office

MOSES LAKE — The Grant County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Monday to fold the county’s Department of Emergency Management into the County Sheriff’s Office.

The integration of the two offices “will allow for sustained and consistently coordinated operations during emergencies,” according to Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones.

The merger, which does not involve the county’s 911 service, would fold the one-person emergency management department into the 116-person sheriff’s office, providing emergency management with more resources and giving more people access to the things emergency management can do.

“In the end, it doesn’t change what I do, we will still work on preparedness and still work on planning,” said Sandi Duffey, the deputy director of emergency management for Grant County and the department’s only employee.

However, Duffey said a number of details have not yet been worked out, so she is not sure exactly what sheriff’s office resources her department will have access to.

According to Cindy Carter, chair of the Grant County Commission, the ability to share resources and responsibility is important in the event of an emergency, noting that during a wildfire last spring, the sheriff’s department could not use the county’s Everbridge system — a reverse 911 system that allows the county to call individuals, neighborhoods, or whole communities during an emergency — because Duffey was out of the area and could not be reached on her cellphone.

“Sandi does a very good job, but we just need to have resources, to get a stronger department,” Carter said.

“This is will give us more of a cohesive approach to emergency management,” she added.

The merger becomes effective on Jan. 1, 2017.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.