KAUFMAN, Texas – The Kaufman County Commissioners' Court approved a $1.1 million contract to begin construction on a regional dispatch center which will be housed in the old Armory Building on South Houston Street in Kaufman, Texas.
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The contract also begins preparation for a Kaufman County Emergency Operations Center within the same building. The commissioners approved the contract with Ed A Wilson, Inc for a total contract price of $1,147,603.37.
The regional dispatch center will serve several communities in Kaufman County who enter into an inter-local agreement with the county. The regional dispatch center will initially house four county dispatchers with available room for eight dispatchers as inter-local agreements are made.
The Armory Building was chosen as the site due to its room for additional dispatchers and also the ability to have adequate back-up battery power. Both are items which cannot be addressed at the dispatch's current location within the Kaufman County Jail, according to county officials.
New equipment will also be purchased to address a concern among the court and first responders – dead zones in the signal of the current radios in certain areas of the county. The purchase of the equipment is not included in the contract but will be made at a later date.
The county has attempted to place repeaters in the dead zones to remedy the issue but have been unsuccessful in some areas, according to Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes who said the equipment currently in use was purchased more than ten years ago and is reaching its end-of-life.
The county will seek a grant in the future to aid in the purchase of new radio equipment to retrofit the dispatch center, according to Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood. If no grant is available, the county will likely go into a lease-purchase agreement to obtain the new radio equipment which they used to purchase their current equipment.
“When it comes to public safety, if we have a firefighter, or a deputy, or a constable … that's in dire straights that needs help and they can't communicate, I think that's our duty as a commissioners' court, I feel, on my watch at least, that I don't want that on my hands if something terrible happens,” said Wood.
Terrell Mayor Hal Richards, Terrell City Manager Tori Edwards, Terrell Police Chief Jodi Lay, Kaufman Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Davis, and Crandall Police Chief Dean Winters each spoke in favor of the regional dispatch center at the commissioners' court meeting.
“Crandall is in support of this as well,” said Winters. “We're outside on the fringe of communications. In fact, my officers, most of the times, we can't even use our portable radios. So, improving this system is going to make the west side of the county a lot safer.”
Authorities also mentioned the shooting death of Mark Hasse. If the vehicle used during the shooting death of Hasse traveled west from Kaufman to Seagoville where it was later recovered by authorities, a regional dispatch center could have communicated the vehicle's description much quicker.
“We actually sent units and myself personally here [after the shooting],” said Winters. “Odds were, we passed that vehicle. If we had been in a regional situation, we may have been able to stop that vehicle.”
The City of Forney recently upgraded their radio system and installed a new communications tower. When Forney's Justice Center was built, an Emergency Operations Center was included. Although the city may participate in the regional dispatcher center in the future, it currently does not have plans to do so, according to officials.
Construction is expected to last five to six months.
The regional dispatch center will serve several communities in Kaufman County who enter into an inter-local agreement with the county. The regional dispatch center will initially house four county dispatchers with available room for eight dispatchers as inter-local agreements are made.
The Armory Building was chosen as the site due to its room for additional dispatchers and also the ability to have adequate back-up battery power. Both are items which cannot be addressed at the dispatch's current location within the Kaufman County Jail, according to county officials.
New equipment will also be purchased to address a concern among the court and first responders – dead zones in the signal of the current radios in certain areas of the county. The purchase of the equipment is not included in the contract but will be made at a later date.
The county has attempted to place repeaters in the dead zones to remedy the issue but have been unsuccessful in some areas, according to Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes who said the equipment currently in use was purchased more than ten years ago and is reaching its end-of-life.
The county will seek a grant in the future to aid in the purchase of new radio equipment to retrofit the dispatch center, according to Kaufman County Judge Bruce Wood. If no grant is available, the county will likely go into a lease-purchase agreement to obtain the new radio equipment which they used to purchase their current equipment.
“When it comes to public safety, if we have a firefighter, or a deputy, or a constable … that's in dire straights that needs help and they can't communicate, I think that's our duty as a commissioners' court, I feel, on my watch at least, that I don't want that on my hands if something terrible happens,” said Wood.
Terrell Mayor Hal Richards, Terrell City Manager Tori Edwards, Terrell Police Chief Jodi Lay, Kaufman Assistant Fire Chief Ronnie Davis, and Crandall Police Chief Dean Winters each spoke in favor of the regional dispatch center at the commissioners' court meeting.
“Crandall is in support of this as well,” said Winters. “We're outside on the fringe of communications. In fact, my officers, most of the times, we can't even use our portable radios. So, improving this system is going to make the west side of the county a lot safer.”
Authorities also mentioned the shooting death of Mark Hasse. If the vehicle used during the shooting death of Hasse traveled west from Kaufman to Seagoville where it was later recovered by authorities, a regional dispatch center could have communicated the vehicle's description much quicker.
“We actually sent units and myself personally here [after the shooting],” said Winters. “Odds were, we passed that vehicle. If we had been in a regional situation, we may have been able to stop that vehicle.”
The City of Forney recently upgraded their radio system and installed a new communications tower. When Forney's Justice Center was built, an Emergency Operations Center was included. Although the city may participate in the regional dispatcher center in the future, it currently does not have plans to do so, according to officials.
Construction is expected to last five to six months.