Troy Dispatch no longer taking calls for service

The Troy 911 Dispatch Center is running out of money and personnel to continue offering services in the rural area of Lincoln County.

The center stopped offering services on Monday, July 17, according to a July 19 post on the Troy Area Dispatch Facebook page. Emergency and non-emergency dispatch services for the Troy Area District were transferred to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch the same day.

The post cites “an ongoing staffing shortage” as the reason for the change. It also said the change would be “for an unknown duration.”

Callers should continue to dial 911 in the event of an emergency and for non-emergency calls, dial 406-293-4112.

Lincoln County Sheriff Darren Short said he had no idea of the future of Troy’s dispatch center, but said his office was handling all the calls due to the emergency status.

“The decision on its future will be up to the commissioners, Troy and the dispatch board,” Short said. “But I’ve told the commissioners before that if we take their calls on a long-term or permanent basis, we will need more staff. Yesterday [July 20], we were pretty swamped, but we are handling it for now.”

Lincoln County Commissioner Jim Hammons said the call center wasn’t staffed in a July 21 phone interview with The Western News and the Troy Dispatch Board has had three resignations, with another one pending.

“It’s hard enough to get people to work much less volunteer for a board,” Hammons said. “We’ve got a number of open county jobs and several positions open for various boards.”

Hammons said a meeting would take place later in August to discuss what would happen.

Hammons said Troy Dispatch Board Chairman Jim Ward was one of the members to resign recently.

At a Jan. 5 meeting in Troy, Ward reported that Troy Dispatch had three full-time employees and one part-time employee. Ward also said at the meeting that another part-time employee was in training and the board was planning on interviewing another candidate.

But, according to a Troy Area Dispatch Facebook post on April 18, it reported it had an opening for a full-time dispatcher.

Starting pay for a full-time dispatcher during training is $15.50 an hour. After training is completed, the wage rises to $17 per hour and it goes to $18 an hour after successful completion of a probationary period. Benefits were also part of the job description. Training at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy in Helena is 80 hours and is paid for by the hiring agency.

Hammons said most of the board’s budget, a total of $325,000 including a reserve account, has been spent on overtime pay because there aren’t enough dispatchers. He also said there will be necessary equipment upgrades and the district doesn’t have the money to pay for it.

Troy Mayor Chuck Ekstedt said the dispatchers that did remain were not working because the county was taking the calls. He termed the dispatchers as being, “laid off.”

“We’ll meet next month and see what everyone’s thoughts are. There are people on both sides of this,” Ekstedt said.

People interested in joining the dispatch board should contact City Hall at 295-4151. The board is made up of two city appointees and three representing the rest of the district.

Troy Dispatch, which has provided service since 1965 before 911 became available in 1968, has struggled to keep staff.

It began as an all-volunteer organization before transitioning to a paid operation in 1996 when the Troy Area Dispatch District was formed. Initial costs were nearly $41,000 and it was paid for with a seven-mill levy. In 2000, the levy was raised to 20 mills and provided about $97,000 for services.

Many residents have been critical of the fact they pay a levy to the city for dispatch services, as well as the county.

Advocates for dissolution of the dispatch center frequently cite the levy, as well as delays when a call needing a law enforcement response from outside city limits is made to Troy and then rerouted to the Sheriff’s Office in Libby.

Troy area resident Hank LaSala has advocated for the dissolution of the dispatch center for nearly a decade.

"For all practical purposes, Troy Dispatch doesn’t exist," he said. "What happens to the $300,000? Where does that money go?”