After several months of scrutiny and criticism surrounding the Dane County 911 Center, the center’s director announced his resignation Friday.

Joe Norwick, the director of the county’s Public Safety Communications Center, resigned from his position effective Sept. 19. Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk accepted Norwick’s resignation and commended him for his contributions to the county, which included technological upgrades to the 911 Center and organizing the implementation of a $30 million count-wide emergency radio system.

“I thank Director Norwick for his service and the enhancements he embarked upon as director of the Public Safety Communications Center,” Falk said in a statement.

Norwick’s resignation comes nearly four months after the 911 Center received criticism for the mishandling of a 911 call from the cell phone of Brittany Zimmermann, a 21-year-old UW-Madison student killed in her off-campus apartment in April.

In May, Norwick admitted that a dispatcher mistook Zimmermann’s call as an accidental or “hang up” call and failed to call her back to verify the occurrence of an emergency, a violation of center policy. Since the controversy, county officials have worked to review policies and technological equipment at the 911 Center.

Norwick held the position of 911 Center director since July 2007, following a brief retirement after more than 30 years of working in the Dane County Sheriff’s Department.

Falk named Kathy Krusiec, former director of Dane County Emergency Management, as interim director of the 911 Center. Krusiec, who was the county’s emergency management director since 1993, has many years of experience in public safety. As emergency management director for Chippewa County, Krusiec wrote an Enhanced 911 Implementation Plan and also worked as an Emergency Medical Services specialist prior to her directorship.

Falk said Krusiec will not seek the position permanently and, the county will begin a nation-wide search for a permanent director.