Board expected to award contract for 911 call center location study
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 14, 2016 1:45 AM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday are expected to award an $18,300 contract for a study of five possible options for a new 911 call center.
The contract also includes an estimated $982.84 for reimbursable costs such as travel and meals.
The board also will hold a work session to look at possible changes to the county's zoning maps for highway and interchange zoning.
The meeting will get under way at 8 a.m. with an agenda briefing followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.
The 911 center contract calls for Stewart, Cooper and Newell of Gastonia to look at three options involving renovations of existing buildings, and two that would require new construction.
All five are on county-owned property at or near the county's facilities building near the old Wayne Community College campus.
No cost estimates have been discussed, but the county's $39 million five-year capital improvement plan includes $6.7 million for a 911E call center.
The design fee will depend on which option commissioners approve.
If renovation/addition is selected, the fee will be 9.5 of the actual construction cost. If new construction is chosen, the design fee will be 8.25 percent of the actual construction cost.
The commission's Facilities Committee along with staff came up with the five options:
* Renovate two buildings in front of the facilities office and possibly add on to the buildings.
* Renovate the facilities office and move that department elsewhere.
* Renovate the existing brick building at the communications tower site.
* Build a new building behind the animal shelter.
* Build near the communications tower.
The existing 911 center would become a back-up operation once the new site is completed.
Placing some distance between the two is needed so that both centers are on different electrical and phone circuits.
The 911 center has been an issue for some time following a study by consultants with Mission Critical on staffing and facility needs at the center.
The consultants recommended that the county either expand its current center or build a new one to add more telecommunicators to handle an increased volume of calls.
However, commissioners have said that renovation of the existing center is not feasible.
Commissioners have scheduled 30 minutes for the zoning workshop that will be held at the end of their meeting.
The proposed amendments are for highway and interchange zoning proposal maps for U.S. 70 West, the new U.S. 70 Bypass (that is being referred to as N.C. 44 until the road is completed this spring), Interstate-795 and U.S. 117 South.
The proposed changes include both rezoning and the creation of new zoning areas. The proposed zoning maps were created generally utilizing a 300-foot buffer of the corridors up to the interchanges and then following existing property lines around the interchanges.
The Planning Board is recommending the changes be approved.
Commissioners must hold a public hearing on the proposed changes before they can take any action.
In other business Tuesday, Services on Aging Director Paula Edwards will brief the board on the Senior Health Fair and Open House at the Peggy M. Seegars Senior Center from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, March 4.
Jeannie Lovings and Terry Wright, Wayne County Senior Games ambassadors, will talk about the upcoming Senior Games. Registration for the games is from March 1 through April 1. The games will be held in May.
The public comments portion of the meeting will start at 9:15 a.m. There is a time limit of two minutes for non-agenda topics and four minutes for agenda topics. Those planning to speak need to sign up with the clerk to the board at least 10 minutes before the start of the 9 a.m. session.
Items on the consent agenda include an application for 2016 present use and budget amendments.