White County, AR OES 911 Director

The Daily Citizen

A week after becoming interim director of the White County Office of Emergency Service and 911 dispatch center, Tamara Jenkins was promoted Wednesday to take the position full-time.

The decision was made by a vote of the 911/OES board at Wednesday’s board meeting, Jenkins said.

Jenkins was placed at the head of the department following Randall Story’s resignation from the position on November 7. Jenkins had been involved in running the daily operations of OES since an F2 tornado swept a path west of Searcy on September 24.

While the hiring of Jenkins’ two predecessors took months, Jenkins hiring came quickly after the $34,505 a year job became vacant when Story resigned.

Jenkins, a native of Sioux City, Iowa, worked her way up through the ranks.

After working in positions both as a Bald Knob Police Officer and a dispatcher for Bald Knob, Jenkins moved over to a job with the county.

In 2001, Jenkins worked as a jailer at the county detention center before taking a position as a dispatcher. In March, 2005, Jenkins became a deputy coordinator of OES.

In 2004, Parish wrested control of the dispatch center from the sheriff’s department promising to bring all the dispatch centers throughout the county under one roof.

Jenkins said she did not anticipate taking any concrete steps in the immediate future to consolidate the county’s dispatch center with the dispatch centers in Searcy, Beebe and Bald Knob.

“That is still going to be a couple of years out,” Jerkins said. “It’s still something that I’d like to see.”

Jenkins currently has eight dispatchers working for her. The 911/OES board authorized Jenkins to hire a ninth dispatcher, to fill the vacancy left by Jenkins’ promotion.