The Kenai Peninsula Borough will hire two borough employees to replace outgoing state employees at the Soldotna Public Safety Communication Center following a unanimous vote in support of the hire by the assembly during their April 20 meeting.

The SPSCC, which is located at the borough’s Emergency Response Center, consolidates the borough’s dispatch services and has historically been staffed both by borough employees and by employees from the Alaska Department of Public Safety. According to the resolution, the borough is in the process of negotiating with the State of Alaska and other municipalities to transition the center to be entirely run by borough staff.

The transition plan in place replaces outgoing state employees with borough employees as a way to minimize the impact on incumbent state workers. Two state workers are expected to leave their positions at the center within the next month. The borough will use just over $36,000 in available FY 21 funds to pay for the positions.

A memo from Borough Human Resources Director Kim Saner and Emergency Management Coordinator Tammy Goggia to the assembly said that the borough has been working with the state to transition the center’s nine state employees to borough employment since fall of 2019. As of early April, there were four state employees still working at the center, two of whom gave notice of resignation.

“In an effort to effectively meet the mission critical public safety communications needs as we enter into the summer months and busiest time of the year, we request approval to fill two of the imminent vacancies,” the memo said.

The resolution also speaks to the need for replacement employees.

“Filling the vacancies is critical to the continued operations of the 911 communications center,” the legislation says.

More information on the legislation can be found at kpb.legistar.com.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com