BOCC Select New County Emergency Manager
Travis Bateman
Farmer Staff Writer
County commissioners conducted candidate interviews for the county’s emergency management director on Tuesday, June 22 and after concluding their interviewing of four candidates they were able to select that new director.
After discussing each candidate during a special meeting held the same day at 4 PM, each candidate being named covertly as “Candidate A, B, or C”, commissioner Kathy Skarda made the motion to offer the position to Candidate C with Commissioner Clint Wold seconding. After further but brief discussion, all five commissioners then voted in favor of the motion.
“Candidate C” does in fact have a name and that name is already familiar amongst the county, its schools, and public safety circles as she once held a deputy sheriff and school resource deputy role here.
Chantel Swigart will now return back to McKenzie County in a director position. She brings a diverse background in investigations, school safety, community policing, and law enforcement leadership to her newly selected role as McKenzie County Emergency Management Director.
Swigart is originally from Sidney, Montana, where she graduated from Sidney High School. She attended both Dawson Community College and Rocky Mountain College before beginning a lengthy career with the State of Montana. According to multiple award profiles published in 2025, she spent approximately 15 years working in Montana’s Audit and Investigations Unit, giving her extensive experience in investigations, compliance reviews, evidence gathering, and case management before entering law enforcement.
Swigart later joined the McKenzie County Sheriff’s Office and became one of the agency’s most recognizable community-facing deputies through her assignment as a School Resource Deputy (SRD).
Public records and agency announcements indicate she served approximately six years as a Deputy Sheriff and filled a School Resource role, working in multiple schools throughout McKenzie County. During that time, she focused on school security, youth mentorship, crime prevention education, emergency preparedness, and relationship building between students and law enforcement. The Sheriff’s Office noted that she became known for personally knowing many of the students she served and for building strong trust within the schools.
The Sheriff’s Office publicly recognized her on National School Resource Officer Day, highlighting her dedication to student safety and school-community partnerships.
Swigart’s work in school safety earned statewide recognition.
In 2025, she received the North Dakota American Legion’s Ray Atol Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award after being nominated by the Watford City American Legion Post. The award recognized her commitment to youth mentorship, school safety, and community policing.
She also earned NASRO Practitioner certification through the National Association of School Resource Officers, a professional credential requiring advanced training in school-based policing, adolescent development, emergency response, and school safety practices.
In 2025, Swigart joined the Killdeer Police Department.
The City of Killdeer announced that she brought extensive law enforcement experience to the department and later assigned her as the School Resource Officer for Killdeer Public Schools. Public profiles described her as the department’s newest officer and highlighted her background in investigations, youth engagement, and public service.
Public postings also show she was among Killdeer officers who were cross-deputized by Dunn County, providing additional regional law enforcement authority and strengthening interagency cooperation.
Although most publicly available information focuses on her law enforcement career, several aspects of Swigart’s background align directly with emergency management responsibilities:
• Fifteen years of investigative and regulatory experience with the State of Montana.
• Six years working within school emergency preparedness and school safety programs.
• Extensive collaboration with educators, law enforcement, fire departments, EMS providers, and local government officials.
• Professional training through the National Association of School Resource Officers.
• Experience working in both county and municipal law enforcement environments.
• Familiarity with incident response, public information, crisis intervention, and community outreach.
McKenzie County’s Emergency Management Department oversees preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery efforts for natural disasters, severe weather, wild land fires, hazardous materials incidents, critical infrastructure protection, and coordination among local, state, tribal, private nonprofit, and federal partners.
Swigart’s combination of investigative experience, school safety leadership, community engagement, and interagency law enforcement work provides a foundation that county leaders likely viewed as valuable as McKenzie County continues to manage challenges associated with rapid growth, energy development, wildfire risk, transportation incidents, and emergency preparedness planning.
Her selection marks a transition from front-line law enforcement and school safety into a countywide leadership role responsible for coordinating emergency preparedness and response efforts across North Dakota’s largest county as well as one of its most geographically diverse.
Brandon Stoker, who also interviewed for the director position will remain in his position as Assistant Director for Emergency Management and the two will move forward in bringing the department up to new standards with increased functionality and collaboration.
Swigart will step into her new director position on July 13.