That piece of information was shared by Commissioner Dan Vogler yesterday at a dedication ceremony for a state-of-the-art building that houses the 911 center, Lawrence County Emergency Medical Services and the Lawrence Emergency Planning Center, which plans for widescale disasters.
Ground was broken for the $6.5 million building at 1451 Countyline Street in December, 2014, and it was completed earlier this year. According to county public safety director Brian R. Melcer, the equipment, furniture and all of the emergency operations have quietly been moving since then. All operations were up and running as of March 30, Melcer said.
More than 150 state and local emergency officials, government officials and business leaders gathered in front of the new building Monday to witness the ribbon cutting that officially opened the center.
"This is something that's been long overdue to protect the citizens of Lawrence County," Melcer said. "It's a huge milestone. Over the years our department has evolved in how we respond to the public."
The county's emergency communication system grew up from the municipal level, with the original LEOC board comprised of municipal officials from around the county, Melcer said. "We hope to continue that type of operation and partnership, even though we became a county operation many years ago. Our goal is to make sure your front-line workers — police officers, firefighters, EMS workers and volunteer EMA coordinators — have reliable countywide communications.
"That's our mission, whether we have a nice shiny building to do it out of — we'd like to think we did a good job in the Cathedral building built in the 1920s. We hope that someday this will be a campus with training facilities and other things that first responders will need to be able to do their jobs effectively. Hopefully we'll be back here for another groundbreaking and dedication ceremony."
The commissioners in 2014 floated a bond issue to pay for the building. Upgraded communications cost another $1 million, which is being paid for largely with 911 funding, Melcer said.
The 10,475 square-foot state-of-the-art building and attached 8,281-square-foot garage sit on 42 acres of land.
A seven-post 911 dispatching center inside features computer-aided dispatching and is a work station for 14 dispatchers, 12 of whom are full-time and work shifts.
The building was designed by Eckles Architecture & Engineering and Architects Design Group of Orlando, Fla., as associate architects. Contractors for the project were Rien Construction of Brookfield, Ohio, general; McCurley Houston Electric of New Castle, electrical; Guys Mechanical Systems of New Sewickley, HVAC; and Rabe Environmental Systems of Corry, plumbing. Cornerstone Construction was the project manager and Mission Critical Partners was the technology consultant.
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