California woman with ties to Northwest to head Pierce County emergency dispatch agency
The current public safety communications manager for the Sacramento Police Department is the new head of Pierce County’s emergency dispatch agency.
Deborah Grady, who has ties to Washington, will lead South Sound 911 and its 230 full-time employees.
The South Sound 911 board voted unanimously Wednesday to name Grady the second-ever head of the agency.
“She is the right person, at the right time, to lead South Sound 911 going forward,” said head of the board of directors, Pierce County Council chairman Doug Richardson.
Grady was one of five finalists for the agency’s top post. Before Sacramento, she headed SNOCOM 911, Snohomish County’s emergency dispatch center. Grady’s salary starts at $205,000.
“Without question, what South Sound 911’s team has accomplished is impressive and has enhanced public safety to all in Pierce County,” Grady said in a statement. “I look forward to joining the team as the next executive director.”
In 2011, voters approved a tax increase of a penny on every $10 purchase to improve the emergency communications system, by creating a consolidated dispatch center and buying a new radio system. South Sound 911 was created in 2012.
In the years since, the agency has seen growing pains.
A whistleblower complained that the new computer system was freezing. The complaint described the computer-aided dispatch as having “episodic theoretical potential to create officer or public safety issues,” but a hired investigator said the lags did not put the public in danger.
South Sound 911 also struggled to find a home base. After two failed properties, the agency landed on the old Puget Sound Hospital.
The current executive, Andrew Neiditz, announced his retirement in December. Since 2013, his leadership saw South Sound 911 bring all the dispatch centers across the county together, buy new radios and computer system, secure funding and begin construction on a $59 million countywide dispatch building.
“It was a difficult but personal decision of letting go of something that I basically started,” Neiditz said. “It felt appropriate to bring in new leadership. It made sense and it was the right time.”
Richardson said Neiditz has done a lot for the agency. His last day is April 3.
“The board certainly didn’t realize we’d have to replace him so soon,” Richardson said. “He’s done a great job, and done a lot of things he wanted to do ahead of schedule.”
Grady will start April 6.
