Although Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk has publicly taken credit for the initial proposal of the third party audit of the 911 Center, two Dane County supervisors say they are personally responsible for proposing the independent, internal investigation.

The independent audit was proposed following the April 2 homicide of University of Wisconsin junior Brittany Zimmermann. A call placed to the 911 Center on Zimmermann’s cell phone was mishandled and did not instigate immediate police response on the day of her death.

Though Falk says she initially introduced the audit on May 6 to Joe Norwick, former director of 911, Supervisor John Hendrick, District 6, said he initially proposed the audit on May 1 at an Executive Committee Meeting, the day after news that Zimmermann’s call was mishandled became public.

“I requested it at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the County Board which decides on audits,” Hendrick said. “The request was recorded in the [committee’s] minutes.”

In an e-mail to The Badger Herald, Supervisor Wyndham Manning, District 5, said after reading about Zimmermann’s death, he immediately contacted Hendrick and Dane County Board Chair Scott McDonnell to discuss ways to restore public confidence in the 911 Center.

Since the Executive Committee budgets for an audit of a different county department each year,

the three leaders concluded the Public Safety Communication Center should be investigated, Manning said.

“It wasn’t intended to be strictly an investigation of the mishandled Zimmermann call but rather to work to instill confidence back in the system by taking into account what was already being done in the center and determine what needed to be improved,” Manning said.

Manning said Falk’s idea of an audit “wasn’t as comprehensive as what we were suggesting,” adding Falk wanted an audit performed by an association of which Norwick was a member.

To ensure neutrality in restoring confidence in the center, an independent consultant needed to be chosen through a formal request for proposal process, Manning added.

However, though she agreed many people supported the idea to have a third party audit, Falk said she instigated the idea, calling upon the National Trade Organization to perform the inspection.

“I initially — on May 6 — made the first request and called for an outside audit,” Falk said.

According to Topf Wells, Falk’s chief of staff, the National Trade Organization had been performing audits of 911 Centers for the past year or two. However, due to an “unfortunate incident,” the organization declined Falk’s request to audit the Dane County Center.

Falk worked with the County Board to select a company to audit the center, he continued.

Manning mentioned the Executive Board had concerns Falk’s audit was too focused on the Zimmermann call and where the blame laid concerning the incident. He added once Falk understood the reasoning for an independent third party audit, she was very supportive.

“We agreed that we also needed to evaluate and get answers to the more general procedural questions if we were to make any significant long-term changes to the center,” Manning said.