AGENCY Overview

CENCOM is governed by a board of thirteen elected officials representing Kitsap County, the Cities of Bainbridge Island, Bremerton, Port Orchard, and Poulsbo, and the Kitsap County Fire Commissioners Association.  The CENCOM Policy Board provides fiscal, strategic, and managerial oversight for CENCOM in accordance with the Interlocal agreement.  They adopt the budget and strategic plan, set the agencies direction, and establish policies as necessary to ensure the residents and visitors of the Kitsap region are served by an effective and efficient 911 system. 

The CENCOM policy board is assisted by the Board of County Commissioners, and the CENCOM Executive Committee who each exercise such authority as the Interlocal agreement and/or the CENCOM Policy Board delegate. 

The CENCOM Policy Board appoints the CENCOM Director.  The director is responsible for running the agency.

The CENCOM Policy Board or the Director may appoint various advisory groups or working committees as necessary.  Such committees serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority.

The Agency contains four Divisions: Administrative Services (Admin), Operations (OPS), Information Technology (IT), and Technical (Tech).

The Agency’s Organizational structure is depicted graphically on an organizational chart that is reviewed annually and is updated as needed.

The Training and Operations Manager and Tech & IT division supervisors report to the Deputy Director, who in turn reports to the Director.

The Admin Services division supervisor reports to the director.

OPERATIONS DIVISION (Ops)

This Division is managed by the Training and Operations Manger.

The Division provides 9-1-1 call talking and radio dispatching (emergency and non-emergency) for law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services providers within CENCOM’s service area 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The division coordinates responses with other public safety agencies (for example Washington State Patrol, US Coast Guard, US Navy, Animal Control, Health District, etc) and private services (for example ambulance companies, tow companies, etc).  After hours requests for various public works departments and utility services are handled for certain emergency situations.


TECHNICAL SERVICES DIVISION (Tech)

Technical (Radio) Section (IT)

The CENCOM Technical Services Division is supervised by the Technical Systems Supervisor.  This division maintains the 911 Public Safety radio and telephone communications systems that are located at the dispatch center, backup center, and radio tower sites.    These systems consist of radio dispatch consoles, 911 and business telephone systems, radio base stations, simulcast systems, tower antenna networks, logging recorder, console instant playback recorders, paging encoders, emergency AC and DC power systems, tower microwave networks, radio receiver voting systems, tower site alarm and monitoring systems, radio towers, and tower site facilities.

In addition to the maintenance responsibilities, the division is also active in the research and implementation of new communication system technologies to ensure the overall Public Safety Communications systems are state-of-the-art.   The Electronic Division also serves as the facility maintenance lead for other related systems, such as HVAC, security, fire protection, lighting, transportation, storage and general building maintenance.  

Information Technology Section (IT)

This Section is supervised by the Technical Systems Supervisor.  IT maintains CENCOM’s computer systems including administrative computers and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software & hardware.  The CAD software uses the latest mapping technology that is maintained in cooperation with the Kitsap County GIS staff.  The Kitsap County Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) is managed by IT and is used in conjunction with the telephone system to allow dispatchers to know the location of incoming 911 calls. CENCOM IT also staffs our centralized help desk, which provides support for all CENCOM technical systems.  The division also administers the multi-agency on-line police reporting system. 

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIVISION (Admin)

The Administrative Services Division is supervised by the Office Supervisor.  This division provides office support to all other divisions and non-dispatch related services to the public and CENCOM’s partner agencies.  The division maintains CENCOM files and processes CENCOM’s contracts, purchase orders, invoices, inter-local agreements, and other documents.  The division, working with the Kitsap County Treasurer and Auditor’s Offices, performs all accounting functions including payroll, accounts receivable and accounts payable.

The Admin division also provides clerical support for the CENCOM Policy Board, CENCOM Executive Committee, CENCOM Strategic Advisory Board, and various user groups.  As the Records Custodians the division maintains all public records and responds to public disclosure requests particularly for audio recordings and computer logs related to 911 calls, police, fire, and EMS responses.

EMPLOYEE ACCOUNTABILITY

Employees are accountable to only one supervisor at a time. 

Operations Employees are accountable to the on-duty supervisor for their dispatch activities.  Each will be assigned to a specific supervisor for all other purposes. 

Employee evaluations will be completed by each employee’s assigned supervisor their assigned supervisor.  Where employees work for multiple supervisors, it shall be the responsibility of the assigned supervisor to obtain input from all involved supervisors before the evaluation is completed. 

Employees may be assigned to specific projects that cross organizational or supervisory lines.  A project team leader will be assigned to oversee the project and provide direction to team members regarding project work.  The team members’ regular supervisors will remain responsible for all other supervisory matters.  Project team leaders will be designated at the beginning of the project and team members will be informed of any changes that occur.

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