News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena County 911 Dispatcher Jessica Bolanowski works at her dispatch terminal on Thursday.

ALPENA — Alpena County has decided to push back hiring a new emergency management director search for at least a couple weeks.

The commissioners voted on Tuesday to continue dialogue with Presque Isle County about hiring a director who would provide service to both counties.

Alpena County is seeking a new emergency management director since it was announced that current director Kim Elkie intended to step away from the position and continue forward as 911 director. In the past, the emergency service director had a dual role and also oversaw 911 operations.

Sharing an emergency management director would save both counties money, but it also raises the question of whether either county’s emergency program would suffer if the new employee only worked part-time for each county.

Alpena County was on the verge of sharing a new emergency service director with Montmorency County, but before a contract could be signed, the commissioners in Montmorency had a change of heart and decided to hire their own full-time director. Eventually, Montmorency hired Sarah Melching, who was the emergency management director for Presque Isle County, which left both Alpena and Presque Isle counties needing to fill the same position.

Alpena County Commissioner John Kozlowski told his fellow commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting that he has had preliminary discussions with officials from Presque Isle County about sharing a new director and they seemed interested in the idea. However, Kozlowski didn’t want to take talks any further until the balance of the board decided to pursue the partnership further.

The Alpena County Board of Commissioners voted 7-1 to allow Presque Isle County time to ponder the proposal and take action on it at its next meeting.

Presque Isle County Commissioner Joseph Libby said there is a level of interest from Presque County, but also some concerns. He said some of the concerns could vanish as negotiations move forward, if the commissioners decide to pursue the idea.

“We can’t make a deal without knowing all of the details and what a contract would look like,” Libby said. “We are interested, but we need to work out a contract that is fair to the both of us.”

Brenda Fournier, who was the lone no vote for trying to forge a deal with Presque Isle County, said Alpena County has dragged the process on for too long and she believed it would just be best to hire one of the two finalists they have and not wait any longer.

Alpena County Deputy J.P. Ritter and former Alpena County Commissioner Nick Modrzynski are the two finalists for the job.

“I think we need to push through with hiring our own emergency manager full time,” she said. “We have discussed this so many times. I don’t think we can wait any longer. If other counties want to come in with us at a later time, I believe we could do that.”

Kozlowski asked Elkie for her opinion on if a full-time emergency service director was needed, or if a part-time one would suffice. She said she could speak for who is eventually hired, but she added that there is more than enough work to be done to justify someone to work full-time for Alpena County alone. Alpena County Sheriff Erik Smith agreed with Elkie and said if the new director needs to focus on two counties, some emergency programs in Alpena County could suffer.

“I think Kim hit the nail on the head,” Smith said. “Can you get by with someone part time? Yup. But, you will just have a basic program. I think there is enough work out there where we can really excel and make a really robust program. You get what you pay for.”

The Alpena commissioners gave Presque Isle County a deadline of Sept. 23, when the Alpena County Board of Commissioners meet, to respond to the proposal.

The Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners planned to discuss the topic at its commissioner’s meeting that was set for Thursday, Libby said.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.