Boone County Commission approves pay for new joint communications director

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Commission approved the salary for the county's new joint communications director Tuesday.

The county announced Monday that Christie Davis will serve as the new Joint Communications director.

Davis previously worked as the executive director of the emergency communications Center in Sumner County, Tennessee, and has 17 years of experience. The Boone County Commission has been searching for a permanent director for almost a year after former BCJC director Chad Martin resigned last June.

Since then, Maj. Gary German of the Boone County Sheriff's Office has been acting as interim director.

The Boone County Commission held a meeting Tuesday to discuss the new hire to request the ability to pay Davis above the range that's on the books.

The commission approved the hire above the flexible hiring range granting Davis a salary of $125,008.

It also discussed an extended overlap period between interim director German and new director Davis to facilitate the transition.

The commission approved a two-week overlap between between German and Davis.

The Boone County Commission cited the overlap as "critical in laying a strong foundation for her (Davis) success in the future."

Any overlap that exceeds 80 hours will require future commission approval.

In an interview with ABC 17 Davis said she hopes to put her employees first by building a culture within the center, boosting morale, and advocating for better employee pay during her time as Joint Communications Director.

"If you don't have well paid employees they're not going to want to stay. Treat them correctly and they'll want to stay. If we don't have employees to run the center, it doesn't matter what technology we have in place, we are not going to have a well run center," Davis said.

According to Kip Kendrick, Boone County's Presiding Commissioner, Davis will oversee the installation of a new P25 emergency radio system for the county. 

When asked about her thoughts on the new system Davis expressed the new radio will be critical in providing necessary information to first responders.

"I think it's a great idea that they're going to a new radio system, " Davis said, "I think that just being able to communicate with the first responders in those time sensitive situations and making sure they're having all the relevant information is the most crucial part of the role."

Davis was chosen from a pool of four total finalists for this position.