For the fourth time in five years, Flathead County is searching for someone to head its Office of Emergency Services.

Director Roger LaFerriere has announced he will resign from the position after a little more than six months on the job due to family medical issues involving his daughter in California.

“I’m looking at possible employment opportunities that will allow me to stay here and then be with her on a 50-50 basis,” LaFerriere said. “My goal is, if I can stay here — which is ideal because I love this county — I would join the 911 Foundation and be sort of a watchdog, per se, of all the work that I’ve done.”

LaFerriere said if there was a way that he could be with his daughter when he needed to while still doing his current job, he would, but that the directorship requires more time than that.

LaFerriere was preceded by Flathead County Sheriff’s Patrol Commander Cal Beringer, who served as intermediate director after Scott Sampey resigned as director in April 2012. Sampey, who was hired shortly before the opening of the 911 center, left to take an emergency services job in Wisconsin.

Mark Peck was the first to head the agency in 2006. He initially tendered his resignation in April 2008 but ended up staying until February 2010 to help complete preparations for the 911 center.

According to LaFerriere, the county 911 board is looking at the process for hiring his replacement now.

“Chuck [Curry] and I have talked quite a bit about my replacement, and I told him, ‘Look, you’ve got to get a leader in here — and it doesn’t have to be military — but somebody who, number one, cares about those people in [the dispatch center] and the rest of the team here, and who knows how to lead them and manage them and then, number two, is a big partnership builder,” LaFerriere said.

Curry, the county sheriff who also is chairman of the 911 board, confirmed that a search for LaFerriere’s replacement is underway.

“We did convene the hiring board which initially hired Roger and discussed some other options,” Curry said. “Those options really aren’t so much the decision of the 911 board as they are of the county commissioners.”

Among those other options is one that stems from the fact that LaFerriere’s departure comes at an opportune time for reorganization of the agency, since 911 Center Manager Michelene Provo also is resigning at the end of May.

“I think with the retirement of Michelene and the departure of the director, it provided a unique opportunity to look at the command structure up there and how things are set up, who reports to who and is it being done in the most efficient way that it possibly could,” Curry said.

According to Curry, the biggest change the board is looking at is the likely combination of LaFerriere’s and Provo’s jobs into a single director/manager position.

“If this was approved, combining those into one person is probably fiscally responsible as well,” Curry said. “And it wouldn’t be overwhelming for one person.”

Any changes in the Office of Emergency Services and the 911 center are still far from settled, and Curry noted that any proposed ideas for consolidation or reorganization are still preliminary.

Curry did, however, hint at some areas where changes are being considered. For example, he said the director could be strictly responsible for the 911 center and its related subparts, such as the radio technician, graphic information systems employee and similar staff.

What the director may not be responsible for in the future includes direct work alongside fire departments and law enforcement agencies as well as working with EMS and the fire service area. The people who maintained those responsibilities would not necessarily be moved from the 911 center, but could be more autonomous or at least no longer under the umbrella of the director.

In the meantime, Curry and the board are looking to make sure the effectiveness of the Office of Emergency Services and the 911 center are not affected.

“Obviously you don’t want a vacuum, and we’ll look at some interim way to fill the supervisory needs at least in the short term, we won’t let that hang,” Curry said. “It’s difficult for people to not have issues settled and have issues drag on regarding who answers to who and that sort of thing. I’m very cognizant of that, so we’re trying to move through this process prudently but quickly.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.