Program Manager Update

A Year of Significant Progress

From a technology standpoint, 2025 marked a milestone. Our new Platform was fully implemented, accepted, and put into action—processing more than 1.7 million 911 calls over the course of the year. Alongside this achievement, we introduced several new features and enhancements, including:

• Text translation capabilities
• Service Pack 4
• Numerous incremental updates that strengthened performance and reliability

We also made substantial progress on the Centralized Recorder project. After a thorough rework, the RFP was re-released in the fall and closed January 2nd. The improvements made during the revision process positioned us to receive several strong proposals.

Strengthening Outreach and Equity

Our Outreach efforts evolved meaningfully this year. Guided by insights from our Equity Impact Review, we shifted our focus toward underserved communities—ensuring that our services and engagement strategies better reflect the needs of those who have historically been overlooked. We also completed updates to our Outreach Strategic Objectives, formally embedding this renewed focus into our long-term direction.

Preparing for the World Cup

With the World Cup scheduled for June 2026, the year 2025 was marked by intense preparation. During that time, we participated in multiple regional work groups and established a dedicated King County PSAP working group. Our shared goal is clear: ensure that every call for service is answered and that we are fully equipped to support the language and service needs of the visitors who will arrive in our region.

Looking Ahead: Opportunities and Headwinds

As we turn toward 2026, we do so with optimism—but also with a realistic understanding of the challenges ahead. While our 10‑year financial forecast still points to long-term sustainability, revenue projections have flattened. At the same time, the cost of new technology—particularly those driven by rapid advances in artificial intelligence—has risen dramatically.

AI is entering the 911 space at an unprecedented pace. With its promise comes increased technical complexity and significant financial implications. Although we have incorporated many of these anticipated costs into our forecast, doing so has required deeper use of our contingencies than we would prefer.

It is increasingly clear that additional revenue will be essential to maintain the level of service and partnership our PSAPs rely on. To that end, we are actively collaborating with PSAPs across the state and working closely with the State 911 Office to develop a sustainable plan.

Moving Forward Together

Despite the challenges, our commitment remains unwavering. We will continue to innovate, adapt, and advocate—ensuring that our systems, our partnerships, and our communities are well‑supported in the years ahead.

Financial Update 

As year-end close activities progress, a preliminary review indicates a strong financial position, with expenses coming in under budget by approximately $6.5 million and revenue exceeding budget by about $3 million. This positions the program well as it enters a much tighter budget cycle for the 2026–2027 biennium.

In 2026 alone, expenses are projected to increase at roughly three times the percentage growth of revenue. As noted in prior updates, the coming years will be critical in shaping a sustainable financial outlook for the next decade.

"I believe that through knowledge and discipline, financial peace is possible for all of us."

-Dave Ramsey

Continuing Towards Full Potential

In 2025, the implementation of the 911 platform was successfully completed.

The 911 Program Office is fully staffed for the first time in recent memory.

Sirena Troxa joined the 911 Tech Team in September, filling the Senior 911 Technician role vacated when Ryan Bone was promoted to Senior Systems Engineer.

In her own words:

"Hi everyone! My name is Sirena and I’m very excited to be here with the 911 Program Office. I have lots of experience in the IT field working for several public safety agencies including Washington State Patrol, South Sound 911, and most recently Valley Communications Center where I was a CAD Administrator for the past 4 years. I'm very excited to learn the 911 phone side of things and still have lots of interactions with all the PSAPS in King County. I live in Buckley with my two dogs, and pictured is me and my 3-year-old Husky, Ryder."

Rhonda Parrish filled the vacancy on the GIS Team left by the retirement of Janise Fessenden.

Rhonda is a very experienced coordinator of 911 address data, coming from South Sound 911 in Pierce County. This critical role entails coordinating with addressing authorities, PSAPs, and Fire & Law agencies to ensure that quality address data is maintained for all public safety entities and purposes.

Rhonda is also an experienced GIS practitioner, having implemented and maintained the enterprise GIS systems for South Sound 911 in Tacoma, and advised/coordinated with many overlapping agencies.

Help Emery Go Viral!

For 10 years, Emery has taken a boots on the ground approach to his safety education in King County. He is known far and wide for teaching 911 tips to the kids of King County.

Last year, we announced Emery was getting a bit of help to expand his goal of making the children and adults in King County the safest in the country through the Safety Sea Pals, a group of 19 new sea themed characters that will educate on a wide variety of safety topics.

Now, the 911 Program Office is so excited to announce Emery and the Safety Sea Pals are going viral and have officially joined Instagram! The team will be posting educational safety tips, cultural celebrations, and fun Sea Pal content for King County to share with kids and caregivers. To boost our mission, please go follow @EmerysSafetySeaPals on Instagram and be sure to like and share his posts as we take social media by storm.

Legislation and 911

The 60-day Washington State Legislative session began on January 12 and will end March 12. The team will monitor bills throughout the session for any bills that directly or indirectly impact 911 and the PSAP community.