County 911 director seeks city support for sales-tax measure to fund radio upgrades

Sofia Cofield, executive director of ICOM 911, told the Oak Harbor City Council on March 18 that the countywide 911 center needs new radio infrastructure and additional staffing and asked the council to consider a resolution supporting a proposed sales-tax levy to fund the work.

“Last year, our call volume for 2024 was just over 93,000 calls,” Cofield said. She described ICOM as “the countywide 911 center that answers all of the 911 calls that come in or business lines” and said dispatchers are cross-trained on phones and radios. Cofield said the agency’s radio system is more than four decades old and that some island locations lack reliable radio coverage.

The levy Cofield described would add two-tenths of 1 percent to the sales tax — “2¢ on a $10 purchase,” she said — and would…