BOZEMAN — On Election Night, two ballot measures that go hand-in-hand to help Gallatin County Search and Rescue, as well as the Gallatin County 911 center, caught the approval of voters.
The passage of both of these levies, one to help 911 Dispatch get new and upgraded communication systems and the other to help Gallatin County Search and Rescue get three full-time employees could mean the difference between life or death.
“I’ve been doing this 26 years,” says Sheriff Brian Gootkin. “We’ve been working on it since before me, I think. For this to actually pass is unbelievable. It’s huge.”
With 63 percent of voters saying “FOR,” Gallatin County Search and Rescue can now add three full-time employees to its roster.
“That’s a huge statement from the public in support of our volunteers that are selfless, that work their butts off,” Gootkin says. “Those three full-time people will be sheriff’s office employees, one captain in charge of that division and then two civilians, one civilian preferably a search and rescue volunteer that can work full-time and then also a support staff person to keep us all organized.”
The additional two mills will bring more than $705,000 annually, creating a new division in the sheriff’s office.
“You want to talk about an incredible, selfless group of people, I cannot be more proud of this community,” Gootkin says. “We’ve got 160 volunteers that have full-time jobs and then, on top of that, they are training, they are working on equipment and then they are going out on calls.”
But Gallatin County 911 received a big helping hand of its own.
With 54 percent of votes “Yes,” mills will now bring in over $2.1 million annually for them.
“We kind of crossed our fingers and really hoped that our community would see the need,” says Tim Martindale, Gallatin County 911 director. “I was very optimistic when the commissioners voted to put this on the ballot. I was less optimistic when the pandemic broke and I knew we weren’t going to be able to be out in public. We had multiple speaking engagements scheduled and we cancelled all of them.”
Martindale says he feels it.
“We were processing about 50 to 60,000 calls a year,” Martindale says. “Now we are looking upwards of 150,000 calls a year.”
Aging communications, some not working in the rural areas of the county...
Martindale calls it the “Radio Project,” recreating the entire center’s radio structure.
“They are going to be able to get to the calls,” Martindale says. “They are going to be able to talk to us. They are going to know what’s going on.”
“It’s literally the difference between life and death. It can be,” Gootkin says. “When we can’t communicate then people aren’t safe. There are so many parts of this county where emergency responders, including deputy sheriff’s, cannot talk on the radio and it’s been that way for a long time so for the community to support us with that, I cannot tell you how important that is to our deputies, more importantly to the public for their safety.”
Now, instead of putting out fires to only come back to them down the road, Martindale says this is a more permanent fix: 15 years, with plans to expand the center down the road.
“15 years gives us the opportunity to take a breath and start planning for the next 15 years after that,” Martindale says. “It’s not going to be a quick fix. That’s one thing I’ve seen in public safety over the years is due to funding, we do quick fixes and in two or three years, we are back at the drawing board, trying to figure out what’s the next band aid to put on this system.”
Gallatin County 911 is already planning that next step, with a company from Dallas, Texas coming up in July to start site surveying for the radio upgrades.
Then, actual construction will start around September.
“At the beginning of this year, we signed a contract with E.F. Johnson to implement a new radio system,” Martindale says. “We’ve been working very diligently with them, kind of having to jump some hurdles to get that done because of travel restrictions. They are located in Dallas, Texas so it's kind of hard to come here when they have some travel restrictions.”
Martindale adds there will be a “refresh” for the new system halfway through that 15-year run.
He also notes that the passed levy will help upgrade the center’s “backup” location.
“It’s functional,” Martindale says. “It wouldn’t be the most comfortable place to work if we were in an emergency. We’ve kind of had to piece some stuff together.”
