Executive Director - Porter County Central Communications
Porter County, Indiana
Salary: $106,533 annually
Status: Full-Time, Exempt
Reports to: Porter County Board of Commissioners
Benefits: Comprehensive Porter County benefits package
Porter County is seeking an experienced, collaborative, and forward-thinking public safety communications professional to serve as Executive Director of Porter County Central Communications.
Porter County Central Communications is the consolidated Public Safety Answering Point serving approximately 177,000 residents and 29 public safety agencies, including law enforcement, career, volunteer and combination fire departments, and five EMS providers. The center processes approximately 200,000 emergency and non-emergency calls annually and provides 24/7 police, fire, and EMS communications services throughout Porter County.
The Position
The Executive Director serves as the chief executive and administrative leader of Central Communications and is responsible for the overall leadership, operations, personnel, technology, financial management, strategic planning, and continued development of the organization. The position reports directly to the Porter, County Board of Commissioners.
The Executive Director will lead a mission-critical 24/7 organization, develop and maintain strong relationships with public safety and governmental partners, oversee operational performance and workforce development, manage operating and capital budgets, and guide the organization through significant technological modernization.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing executive leadership and strategic direction for countywide 9-1-1, police, fire, and EMS communications.
- Leading, developing, and supporting management, supervisory, technical, administrative, and frontline communications personnel.
- Overseeing staffing, recruitment, retention, training, quality assurance, employee development, and organizational performance.
- Preparing and managing operating and capital budgets, contracts, procurements, and long-range financial and technology plans.
- Maintaining collaborative relationships with public safety executives, elected officials, governmental partners, vendors, and other stakeholders.
- Developing policies, procedures, performance standards, and strategic initiatives that support reliable and effective emergency communications.
- Providing leadership during major incidents, severe weather, technology disruptions, and other significant events.
- Representing Porter County Central Communications in local, regional, state, and national public safety communications initiatives.
The complete position carries broad responsibility for personnel, policy, budgeting, technology, interagency relationships, emergency leadership, and organizational performance.
Technology and Modernization
The next Executive Director will join Central Communications during a significant period of technological advancement.
The center's technology environment includes Motorola PremierOne CAD, Motorola MCC7500E radio consoles, Eventide logging, Axon Prepared AI quality assurance, RapidSOS, Esri GIS, Microsoft 365, and other public safety communications and interoperability systems.
Major initiatives include:
- Selection and implementation of a next-generation 9-1-1 telephony platform, with cloud-based or cloud-enabled solutions under consideration.
- A large-scale modernization of the center's radio dispatch console environment from Motorola MCC7500E consoles to a next-generation radio platform.
- Continued advancement ofNG911, GIS, quality assurance, interoperability, cybersecurity, redundancy, and continuity-of-operations capabilities.
The successful candidate should be comfortable leading major technology projects, managing vendor relationships, guiding organizational change, and ensuring that technology decisions support frontline personnel and the countywide public safety mission.
Leadership and Organizational Independence
Central Communications serves numerous independent law enforcement, fire, and EMS organizations with different operational needs and perspectives. The Executive Director must be an effective collaborator while also preserving the professional autonomy, neutrality, and integrity of Central Communications.
The successful candidate must possess the judgment and executive confidence to seek input, build consensus, and maintain positive relationships while making decisions based on public safety, professional standards, fiscal responsibility, employee welfare, and the interests of the countywide emergency communications system as a whole.
The Executive Director is expected to ensure that no single agency, discipline, official, organization, or stakeholder exercises inappropriate influence over departmental operations or decision-making.
Qualifications
A bachelor's degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Emergency Management, Public Safety, Communications, Organizational Leadership, Information Technology, or a related field is preferred. An equivalent combination ofrelevant education, professional training, certifications, and progressively responsible experience may be considered.
Candidates should have five or more years of progressively responsible leadership, supervisory, or management experience in public safety, emergency communications, 9-1-1 operations, law enforcement, fire/EMS communications, emergency management, or a related field.
Senior leadership experience in a multi-jurisdictional or multi-discipline PSAP is strongly preferred.
Successful candidates should demonstrate experience in organizational leadership, strategic planning, public-sector budgeting, workforce development, public safety technology, major project management, policy development, quality assurance, interagency relations, and organizational change.
Professional credentials such as NENA ENP or CMCP and APCO RPL or CPE are preferred or may be expected within a reasonable period following appointment.
The Ideal Candidate
Porter County is seeking a visible, engaged, and principled executive who understands that a modern 9-1-1 center is simultaneously a public safety organization, technology organization, service organization, and people organization.
The ideal candidate will demonstrate integrity, executive judgment, collaborative leadership, financial discipline, commitment to employee recruitment and retention, enthusiasm for technology modernization, and a strong understanding of police, fire, EMS, and emergency communications operations.
Most importantly, the successful candidate will have the ability to build consensus without sacrificing sound professional judgment and to maintain Central Communications as a neutral, equitable, and professionally independent service provider for all participating agencies.
Annual Salary: $106,533
Porter County offers a comprehensive benefits package in accordance with County policies and benefit plans.
Porter County Central Communications - serving those who serve Porter County.
Pay: $106,533.00 per year
Work Location: In person
