Barry County E9-1-1 Dispatch Center gets new improvements
Pictured above, some of the improvements made to the dispatch room in the Barry County E9-1-1 Dispatch Center. Seen here, the new carpeting, chair upholstery, monitors and accent wall.
December 14, 2019
Vinnie Roberts
Barry County’s E9-1-1 Dispatch Center is one of the most important buildings in town when it comes to emergencies. Day after day, their work is the thing that stands between normal citizens and catastrophe. To improve the dispatch’s functionality and overall comfort, recently the facility began a series of improvements.
“This was a scheduled capital improvement,” explained director Mike Phillips. “The board does a pretty good job of setting money back on an annual basis for this purpose.”
According to Phillips, these improvements began in early October and wrapped up toward the end of November.
The most major of these improvements was made to the center’s functionality. Several hardware and software changes were made to the facility’s computer system that will help make the work of the dispatch center easier.
“We got a hardware refresh,” Phillips explained. “We had 19-inch monitors, but now everything is going widescreen, so that was necessary. We also got new servers. The old ones were over five years old. We also got some updated programs and new operating systems on some computers.”
While these major changes will allow the center’s systems to function at its optimal capacity, the rest of the improvements were focused on making sure the center’s dispatchers themselves can function at their optimal capacity.
One of the larger scale improvements made was to the seating in the dispatch area. According to Phillips, age had begun to set in on some chairs, with some pieces being unable to be replaced due to the age of their models.
“We were able to use the existing frames that we had and put some new fabric on them,” said Phillips. “The furniture itself was 12 years old. We couldn’t get the legs that they made for them anymore so, we had to update to the newest line of those legs.”
For this portion of the updates, the Barry County E9-1-1 board awarded a bid to Zybex, the furniture’s original manufacturer.
The facility also received new carpeting throughout. The carpeting was installed by Nickle’s Flooring
The center was also able to add a new workstation to the dispatch room. According to Phillips, this will serve as a backup station so that, in case of an equipment failure at any of the other stations, the center can still operate at full capacity.
Improvements were also made to the paint around the facility. For this portion, Phillips explained, the administration took steps to include the entire staff of the center as part of the selection process for some improvements.
“We formed a committee of staff members so that they could have a say on some of the color options, the scheme of the colors down in the dispatch room and the colors of the furniture.”
Reportedly, much of the paint in the new paint in the facility kept the old color scheme, with the notable exception of an accent wall in the dispatch room. This wall was painted a vibrant blue at the suggestion of the dispatchers.
The overall cost of these improvements totaled just over $100,000. According to Phillips, the funds from the improvements came from the center’s capital improvement budget.
Vinnie Roberts
Barry County’s E9-1-1 Dispatch Center is one of the most important buildings in town when it comes to emergencies. Day after day, their work is the thing that stands between normal citizens and catastrophe. To improve the dispatch’s functionality and overall comfort, recently the facility began a series of improvements.
“This was a scheduled capital improvement,” explained director Mike Phillips. “The board does a pretty good job of setting money back on an annual basis for this purpose.”
According to Phillips, these improvements began in early October and wrapped up toward the end of November.
The most major of these improvements was made to the center’s functionality. Several hardware and software changes were made to the facility’s computer system that will help make the work of the dispatch center easier.
“We got a hardware refresh,” Phillips explained. “We had 19-inch monitors, but now everything is going widescreen, so that was necessary. We also got new servers. The old ones were over five years old. We also got some updated programs and new operating systems on some computers.”
While these major changes will allow the center’s systems to function at its optimal capacity, the rest of the improvements were focused on making sure the center’s dispatchers themselves can function at their optimal capacity.
One of the larger scale improvements made was to the seating in the dispatch area. According to Phillips, age had begun to set in on some chairs, with some pieces being unable to be replaced due to the age of their models.
“We were able to use the existing frames that we had and put some new fabric on them,” said Phillips. “The furniture itself was 12 years old. We couldn’t get the legs that they made for them anymore so, we had to update to the newest line of those legs.”
For this portion of the updates, the Barry County E9-1-1 board awarded a bid to Zybex, the furniture’s original manufacturer.
The facility also received new carpeting throughout. The carpeting was installed by Nickle’s Flooring
The center was also able to add a new workstation to the dispatch room. According to Phillips, this will serve as a backup station so that, in case of an equipment failure at any of the other stations, the center can still operate at full capacity.
Improvements were also made to the paint around the facility. For this portion, Phillips explained, the administration took steps to include the entire staff of the center as part of the selection process for some improvements.
“We formed a committee of staff members so that they could have a say on some of the color options, the scheme of the colors down in the dispatch room and the colors of the furniture.”
Reportedly, much of the paint in the new paint in the facility kept the old color scheme, with the notable exception of an accent wall in the dispatch room. This wall was painted a vibrant blue at the suggestion of the dispatchers.
The overall cost of these improvements totaled just over $100,000. According to Phillips, the funds from the improvements came from the center’s capital improvement budget.