Cascade County commissioners voted unanimously to make an offer for the Disaster and Emergency Services manager position during their April 25 meeting.

They voted to offer the position at a starting salary of $67,500.

During the meeting, Commissioner Jim Larson said the selected candidate had asked for anonymity and that they wouldn’t be disclosing his name at that time.

Two days later, the candidate, Joey Zahara, posted on Facebook that he had been selected for the job.

Zahara was working for Montana Disaster and Emergency Services.

County hires new emergency manager [2020]

The county legal department said it supported commissioners going into executive session during the April 25 meeting to discuss selecting the candidate.

Commissioner Briggs told The Electric that the county was now going through the background check process before completing the hiring process.

Commissioner Jim Larson told The Electric that Zahara was expected to start mid-May, contingent on the county completing the background check.

On April 19, commissioners interviewed the DES manager candidates.

Zahara was the only one to request closed session for the interview.

DES coordinator resigns; county considering folding office into CCSO [2020]

Three other candidates interviewed in open session that day, including Dave Phillips, former Cascade County deputy and a justice of the peace who lost reelection in November.

Two other candidates dropped out of the interviews, according to commissioners.

Commissioner Rae Grulkowski said during the April 19 meeting that it was a “good pool” and a “difficult decision.”

Brad Call has been hired as the new emergency management director for Cascade County.

Stevens enters no contest plea in theft case, state knocks charge down to misdemeanor [2019]

Call was hired in May 2020 after the position had been vacant for several months and county officials had discussed folding the office into the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office.

While the position was vacant, Scott Van Dyken, currently the undersheriff, acted as the interim manager for the third time in three years.

The  DES manager before Call was Ron Scott, who resigned in 2020 after about six months in the position with no reason given from the county.

New judge assigned to Stevens case; county currently hiring for DES job [2019]

After Ron Scott resigned, Commissioner Joe Briggs told The Electric that discussions were underway with the CCSO regarding the possibility of folding DES into that office, but “until that discussion has concluded, we will not be posting the position.”

Before that it was John Stevens who was investigated for theft of county property during his time at CCSO.

The county announced in November 2017 that it had selected Stevens for the DES job, which had been vacant since June 2017 when Vince Kolar retired.