911 call center plan approved by county
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 12, 2017 1:45 AM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday morning resolved their final questions surrounding the design of a new $3.8 million 911 call center.
Their approval of a wind-standard for the facility clears the way for the project architect, Stewart, Cooper, Newell Architects, to complete the design.
It also adds 178,200 to the cost.
Commissioners last month approved the schematic design for the center, but tabled approval of the full design to weigh options for a wind standard.
The board's Facilities Committee met and discussed three possible options.
Its recommendation of 130 mph hour was approved by commissioners Tuesday.
The first option had been to design the call center to withstand winds of 110 mph, the minimum required by state building codes.
The second was 130 mph and the third was the Federal Emergency Management Agency's recommendation of 200 mph.
"The committee felt that we would be safe using the 130-mph standard," County Manager George Wood said. "Consequently the committee recommended unanimously that the board of commissioners approve a wind speed design standard of 130 mph."
Building the call center facility to the 130-mph standard will add $178,200 to the cost while the 200-mph standard would have added $237,600.
"In looking at what several other North Carolina counties have done, particularly at or near the coast, none have used the 200-mph standard," Wood said.
Commissioners plan to pay cash for the 11,305-square-foot call center to be located on an 18.7-acre vacant lot between the county Facilities Services Office and the animal shelter.
It will include an area to house the county's emergency operations center and office space for the staff of the Office of Emergency Services.
The center's floor will be built up over the structural floor to allow cabling and wiring raceways and would extend into the emergency operations center area.
The wall separating the call center and emergency operations center could easily be removed to allow for expansion of the telecommunications area.
The telecommunications area will seat 17 consoles. The current smaller center has six consoles, but county officials have said it needs eight because of the increasing cal volume.