QUESTION: Was there a recent shakeup at Alamance County’s 9-1-1 center that resulted in the demotion of Dexter Brower, the county’s longtime director of Central Communications?
ANSWER: Some personnel changes did, indeed, occur in Central Communications, or C-Comm, a few months ago. But there’s no cause for alarm about these reassignments – at least not according to Alamance County’s manager Bryan Hagood.
In an interview earlier this week, Hagood told The Alamance News that personally administered the changes at Central Communications in order to divide up the duties that Brower previously had as the county’s central communications director. The county manager added that Brower now shares some of these responsibilities with Stephen Sigmon, an eight-year employee of the county’s 9-1-1 center.
“Dexter is over the equipment, towers, and all of the infrastructure,” Hagood went on to explain the current division of labor, “and Stephen Sigmon is handling the operations and is overseeing the staff at C-Comm.
“This is something I implemented because I know that technological changes happen very quickly,” the county manager added. “The infrastructure for Central Communications is changing at a rapid pace, and in my opinion, we needed to be doing a better job of really focusing on our technological infrastructure and having it updated.”
According to the county’s personnel office, Brower, who has been with the 9-1-1 center since 1993, was formally reassigned on September 16, 2019 to serve the county’s emergency communications technical director. This reassignment, which the personnel office has labeled a “transfer,” hasn’t prompted any change in Brower’s annual salary, which remains at its previous level of $80,127.12.
Meanwhile, the personnel office reports that Sigmon received a promotion on November 8, 2019 and is currently employed as the county’s communications operations manager. According to the personnel office, this new position came with a bump in Sigmon’s salary, which is presently $62,061.96.
Hagood insists that he has full confidence that Brower and Sigmon will serve the county well in their respective roles.
“I think that splitting this position will be good for the department and good for everybody we serve,” the county manager went on to assert.
