Commissioners expected to approve plans Tuesday for new 911 call center
By Steve Herring
Published in News on February 6, 2017 10:20 AM
Full Size
News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
In this file photo, commissioners Bill Pate, left, Joe Gurley, right, and Joe Daughtery, center, vote during a meeting of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners.
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning are expected to approve plans for a new 911 call center.
But first they will need to work out differences they have with County manager George Wood over the proposal.
Commissioners plan to pay cash for the approximately $3.8 million 911 call center to be located on an 18.7-acre vacant lot between the county Facilities Services Office and the animal shelter.
The final design for the center has not yet been approved, and some parts of the proposal session provoked objections from Commissioners Wayne Aycock and Ray Mayo at the board's Jan. 17
The discussion was tabled until Tuesday at the request of Aycock to give board members more time to review the plans.
Tuesday's meeting will get underway with an agenda briefing at 8 a.m. followed by the formal session at 9 a.m. Both will be held in the commissioners' meeting room on the fourth floor of the Wayne County Courthouse Annex.
The design to be presented Tuesday reflects changes that Mayo and Aycock suggested during the Jan. 17 session.
The original design left a notch in one corner where two walls, flooring and roof could be built later to add another room.
That area completed in on the revised design.
Mayo argued it made more financial sense to complete that portion during the initial construction than to do it later.
Aycock and Mayo also disagreed with Wood's recommendation that not all Office of Emergency Services staff be located at the building.
The new center will be more secure than the existing one, including being surrounded by a security fence, Wood said.
It would have a secured lobby and then more secure doors leading to the center's telecommunicators.
Wood said some of the OES staff have regular interactions with the public, not a good arrangement for an otherwise secure facility.
Aycock told Wood the majority of commissioners disagreed and thought everything should go to the new center.
The design for the center included in the board's agenda shows offices for Fire Marshall Bryan Taylor and OES Director Mel Powers as well as other OES personnel.
In several cases, the room's original purpose as been marked out and a name, such as Taylor's written in.
Stewart, Cooper, Newell Architects is the company designing the 11,305 square-foot call center.
It includes the emergency operations center.
In other business Tuesday, commissioners will hear presentations from:
• Jayson Hill of Wayne County Sheriffs Office, on renewal of the office's DWI Task Force.
• Paula Edwards, director of Wayne County Services on Aging, about the upcoming Senior Games.
• Andrew Jernigan, president of Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp.
• Ashlin Glatthar, Goldsboro-Wayne County Travel and Tourism director, on the marketing plan for the Wings Over Wayne Air Show.
• Facilities Manager Kendall Lee and Wood on the savings from the sewer metering project.
The board will consider motions to:
• Include a recess at the board's March 21 session to attend a joint meeting with the Board of Education at the school system's central offices, 2001 E. Royall Ave.
• Convey property and easement for the Water Quality and Detention Facility and Shed from Wayne Community College to the county as recommended by County Attorney Borden Parker.
• Adopt a resolution authorizing Wood to enter into a grant agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation for a $27,000 grant for land acquisition for the Wayne Executive Jetport and appropriate budget amendment.
• Approve an equipment purchase for the Dudley Fire Department.
• Authorize the execution of the construction agreement for Meadow Lane Elementary School with the Wayne County Board of Education.
Public comments will be taken at 9:15 a.m. Speakers will have four minutes to comment on their topic of choice.
Consent agenda items include budget amendments and an agreement with the Wayne County Development Alliance to remove restrictions on 38 acres of land.