Darryl K. Maggard of Tahlequah was hired Wednesday as the Muskogee City/County Enhanced 911 Coordinator/Manager.

Maggard, 43, will be paid $65,000 annually.

He said he resigned as Cherokee County 911 coordinator to take the job. He goes to work here Oct. 12.

He plans to temporarily use an office at the Muskogee Police Department.

“He was by far our best applicant,” said Muskogee Fire Chief Derek Tatum of the City/County Enhanced 911 Trust Authority.

Several members of the Authority plan to meet Friday with officials from OG&E about a possible donation of the old OG&E building downtown for the new 911 Center, Tatum said.

“I’m excited to get started, having been a neighbor,” Maggard said. “I’m excited to see things coming together.”

Maggard is a graduate of Locust Grove High School.

He began his career as a training officer in the Peggs fire department, he said.

He volunteered to work on the 911 system in Cherokee County in 1990.

“I was hired in 1996 (as 911 coordinator),” he said. “We took the first call before the system was officially turned on. It was from a man having a heart attack. He lived on the Cherokee/Delaware County Line.”

The man survived, he said.

Maggard has been on the Statewide 911 Advisory Board since 2005.

Since 2006, he has been a member of the Oklahoma Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association and will assume the position as chapter president this fall.

He is the chairman of the Eastern Oklahoma Development District 911 Advisory Board.