NPD chief pleads for higher wages to attract dispatchers

The Nome Common Council in an unusual Wednesday meeting – rescheduled due to inclement weather on Monday, February 23 — passed a resolution that increased the pay for communication officers at the Nome Police Department with the goal to attract qualified applicants to work at NPD.
Currently, there are only four dispatchers staffing the dispatch center, which responds to 911 and emergency calls. Interim Police Chief Mike Heintzelman asked the council for $60,000 per year to increase the pay in order to be competitive with the private sector and other jobs in Nome that are well-paying and less stressful.
Addressing the council, Heintzelman made the argument that the four dispatchers, one will be soon on maternity leave, are not enough to run a professional 24/7 dispatch center. In the budget are seven positions but they remain unfilled. 
Heintzelman said this creates a situation where he cannot give the currently employed dispatchers  time off or send them to training. To staff the dispatch center, he is forced to pull sworn officers off the street and and even recruit the administrate assistant to assign them on dispatch duty.
This, he said, is not only expensive but also contributes to burn out in the department.
City Manager Lee Smith added that this is not an permanent fix and the problem is not only to find qualified and trained dispatchers but also retain them. “They are the most difficult to find,” Smith said.
Chief Heintzelman expanded that dispatchers need to be highly trained, have to pass background checks and need to maintain a certain level of training. “It’s a demanding job and at times it can be very stressful,” he said.
“If your house is burning down … you want somebody really competent answering that phone,” Heintzelman said.
The resolution before the council said, “these positions reflect a higher level of complexity, skills, responsibility, confidentiality and critical public-safety functions compared with other equal pay jobs within our community.”
The council unanimously voted to increase the pay ranges from the entry level of communication officers from $27.83 per hour to $32.29, for Communications Officer II from $28.89 to $33.52 per hour and for Communications Officer III from $29.99 to $34.76 per hour.
The city has budgeted seven dispatcher positions, of which currently only four are filled with one scheduled for maternity leave and uncertain to return. The City of Nome has been unable to hire a dispatcher since August 2024 “creating a critical recruitment and retention challenge that directly impacts public safety.”
Heintzelman added that the council consider added bonuses to the pay increase and said that he would not recommend trying to outsource the dispatch to a private sector company.
The council unanimously approved the pay increase.
In other business, the council voted on an amended state and federal legislative priorities list and approved the following priorities:
A legislative ask of $300 million for the Port of Nome expansion; $16 million for a 18-complex housing unit for teacher and law enforcement employees; $9.5 million for water and wastewater improvements; $14 million for a Utility/Public Works and Emergency Response Equipment structure and $2.8 million for a covered multi-use recreational structure.