Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Hiring topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lake County 9-1-1 Authority interviews candidate for dispatch director
Summary
The Lake County 9-1-1 Authority interviewed Sarah Fair on Sept. 5 for the authority's vacant director role. Fair described seven years of dispatch experience, supervisory and training work, CAD familiarity and approaches to staffing and policy; the board did not make a hiring decision at the meeting.
The Lake County 9-1-1 Authority on Sept. 5 interviewed Sarah Fair for a vacant position to oversee county dispatch operations. Fair described her background in dispatch supervision, training and emergency management and answered questions from board members about leadership, staffing and policy.
The interview matters because the authority is forming a new, permanent management structure for dispatch operations. Board members said they expect the director to standardize policies, advance training, manage budgets and coordinate interagency response across Lake County and neighboring jurisdictions.
Fair told the board she has seven years of experience as a dispatcher and has served in supervisory roles. She said her "leadership style is always people first," and described creating policies at prior agencies, overseeing training programs and filling shifts when staffing gaps occurred. Fair said she is currently an emergency preparedness manager for the "common spare hospitals in Colorado Springs" and is a part-time dispatcher for Park County; she also listed experience with multiple CAD systems including CentralSquare, New World and the TAC10 system Park County uses.
Fair recounted crisis experience to illustrate her approach. She described a case in which a 911 caller could not give a precise location for someone not breathing; Fair said she later concluded she should have dispatched neighboring agencies immediately rather than waiting on jurisdictional confirmation. "I would rather get reprimanded for dispatching out the agencies when it's not in my jurisdiction than letting somebody die," Fair said, adding that the incident led her to prioritize rapid response over jurisdictional delays.
Board members pressed Fair on training and long-range planning. Fair advocated documented multi-phase training (three-to-six months depending on agency) with a documented training plan and a shadow phase before independent operations. She emphasized documenting training to support performance reviews and, when necessary, written improvement plans. The board discussed existing training investments and said it wants to expand opportunities while recognizing staffing constraints can limit time off for training.
Fair also described interagency coordination practices: raise issues promptly, review radio and call records, convene involved parties, and address problems with fact-based conversation rather than blame. She emphasized owning mistakes: "If it was my fault, I owned up to it."
The panel did not take a hiring vote at the meeting. Board members thanked Fair and invited her to remain for the budget discussion. The authority said it will continue the hiring process and bring a candidate recommendation to a future meeting.
The interview took roughly the scheduled time for a candidate presentation and Q&A; multiple county chiefs and board members participated. No final hiring action was recorded in the meeting minutes.
