After collaborating with University of Wisconsin students, Nancy Mistele, a contender for Dane County Executive, rallied 20-25 supporters at the Nitty Gritty Monday night.

Mistele, who is focusing her campaign on public safety, was eager to discuss last Thursday’s release of the second part of the 911 Center audit and criticize Kathleen Falk’s policies.

“What we learned with the incident of the 911 Center is [Falk] had her eye off the ball for a long time,” Mistele said. “What we’ve seen lately is an executive that is backpedaling because her career is in a crisis. She’s scrambling to hold on(to) her position.”

Controversy concerning the 911 Center was stirred by the homicide of UW junior Brittany Zimmermann. A call placed to the center on Zimmermann’s cell phone was mishandled by the 911 operator on the day of her murder.

Mistele said in 2004, Falk was given suggestions concerning the improvement of the 911 Center and again accused her of failing to instigate any of the suggestions proposed to her. Mistele added the first initiative she would take to improve 911 is the instillation of new equipment to improve the center’s function.

“She is scrambling to put things in place that she should have done two years ago,” Mistele continued. “It’s too little, too late. And the real reason for doing it isn’t to make sure the 911 Center is effective. Kathleen Falk has been found out to have failed in her leadership role and she’s trying to correct that action now to save her political career.”

However, Falk said Monday Mistele is “flat wrong,” adding the audit shows she has taken 14 actions beyond what the 2004 Strategic Plan called for. She added the audit says the center has a high level of performance.

Regarding the 82 percent of employees who said 911 Center policies and procedures are unclear and irrelevant to their jobs in the recent audit, Falk said employees were interviewed at a time when they were under close scrutiny.

Falk also proposed initiating a police priority dispatch in the 2009 budget so 911 call takers would follow scripted software so they do not need to use discretion while tending to a call.

Additionally, Falk said Mistele “poo poos” her proposal to install a commuter rail.

“[Falk wants to] install a commuter rail for $250 million for a 12-mile infrastructure that will only accommodate perhaps 0.1 percent of the population; we are in tough economic times right now,” Mistele said.

Mistele added although Dane County will receive an initial loan from the federal government, the subsidies to run the rail every year will cost approximately $10 million.

UW senior Mark Bednar said at the meeting Mistele’s background as a small business owner will help her bring a new angle of thought to the executive position.

“She might not have the mightiest touch and turn everything to gold … [but] she’ll be able to apply that knowledge [in] an executive position, and that’s an invaluable asset that I think the whole county can use,” Bednar said.