By Lela Garlington
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright 2006 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
The embattled director of the Tipton County Emergency Communications Center has resigned.
The chairman of the E-911 board, Mike Taylor, made the announcement of Judy Savard-Max’s resignation during a meeting of the General Welfare committee of the Tipton County Commission Monday night. Her resignation letter dated Dec. 5 gave her last day as Monday.
For much of the past month, the communications center has been blanketed with concerns from the police and fire chiefs about the center’s training and leadership. Former dispatchers also aired complaints and allegations about Savard-Max’s tenure as director. She was hired as an assistant director in September 2003 and promoted to director in July 2005.
Dist. Atty. Mike Dunavant of Ripley said a TBI investigation will continue into what extent Savard-Max used employees to leave work and run personal errands for her. Former dispatchers have said it was common practice and the E-911 board, without elaborating, acknowledged the former director had made some mistakes in that area. As a result, the E-911 board refused to give Savard-Max a merit increase at its November meeting.
E-911 Chairman Taylor said the board has named Savard-Max’s administrative assistant , Renee Downing, as its interim director. After the meeting, Downing said she would be interested in becoming the permanent director once the position is advertised.
Reached at home, Savard-Max said the E-911 board did not pressure her to step down. “I just had enough,” she said. “I don’t think people asked the right questions. They should have investigated more what ex-employees were saying. I loved my job. The board was wonderful.”
Now that she has resigned, she added, “I think that it’ll clear the air.”
Taylor spent about an hour before the committee and most of the 18-member county commission. He said four out of the 12 dispatchers still need training to meet the state’s requirements or the center will be out of compliance by Dec. 31. The center answers 911 calls as well as radio calls from the police, fire and ambulance.
Taylor assured the commissioners that all four would get the necessary training in-house no later than Dec. 21 and meet the state’s deadline.