Murphy If a major event disabled Cherokee County’s emergency 911 center inside the sheriff’s office, chaos would follow.
“We don’t have another center to operate out of,” Sheriff Derrick Palmer said. “If a catastrophe takes out our 911 center, we’re done. We’d have to roll everything to Clay County or Cherokee tribal and dispatch from there. That’s the only option we would have.”
Local law enforcement officials have been advocating for a new backup emergency 911 center since dispatchers moved into the sheriff’s office on Regal Street about four years ago. Officials say the backup equipment inside the building on Hiwassee Street downtown has been obsolete for at least 10 years.
“The backup center has an antiquated system that you can’t repair,” Palmer said.
When dispatchers first moved onto Regal Street, they planned to work out of the backup center on Hiwassee Street at least once a week. Those plans changed because the conditions became insufferable.
“We have two separate radio systems competing in the same room at the backup center, so there’s feedback,” 911 Communications Director Theresa Creasman said. “That radio system is well past its end of life. It’s almost unbearable to work there. In a pinch it may work, but I can’t tell you how well it would work.”
A different system
While there is some redundancy between the two centers, the backup equipment in the building downtown is not a mirror image of the equipment in the main 911 center on Regal Street. As a result, some dispatchers would not even know how to operate the backup equipment if a major event disabled operations in the main center.
“There’s some old crew members who could work it if they took an hour or so to get reacclimated, but new employees would not be able to,” Palmer said. “It’s a completely different system with different software.”
In an effort to finally establish a reliable backup for the emergency 911 center, officials are renovating a modular building on Marks Drive that used to house a hair salon. County commissioners planned to house the backup dispatch center in the former National Guard Armory on James A. Mulkey Drive, but they recently changed those plans after talking with law enforcement officials.
Although renovations at the former hair salon are underway, there’s a possibility those plans will change again after two new commissioners take office in December. Plans to move forward with a new backup 911 center have already stalled once this year.
$495,000 purchase
The county purchased the Marks Drive property from Cherokee Well Drilling for $495,000 in August 2017. Commissioners previously planned to build an Emergency Medical Services station there but switched gears after Commissioner Cal Stiles convinced the board that land donated to the county by the N.C. Department of Transportation on Jackson Street would be a better location for the station.
Today, the county’s maintenance staff works out of a building adjacent to the former hair salon on Marks Drive. However, some members of the community believe the nearly half-million dollar purchase would be better served by something other than a maintenance building and backup 911 center. Others are skeptical about whether the county would be able to sell the property for the amount paid to acquire it in 2017.
“We understand there’s a new board coming in, so we’ve been in discussion with the county and asked for some kind of idea of what our future plans are before we spend money on infrastructure and planning, and have to start from scratch if the board changes their minds,” Palmer said.
County maintenance staff have been renovating the former hair salon for more than three weeks. So far, they have renovated the front porch and the ceiling over it, knocked down interior walls, removed old heating and air equipment, fixed foundation issues, removed floor tiling and cut down overgrown trees.
They also plan to build an exterior wheelchair ramp, install an interior drop ceiling, add a kitchenette, expand the bathroom to include a shower and install new heating and air components, as well as backup power equipment.
“Renovations could be done by the end of this year, barring any unforeseen circumstances,” County Manager Randy Wiggins said. “That’s just the renovations, not the actual move.”
State’s 911 fund pays
While property renovations are funded by taxpayer dollars, about 90 percent of the costs of new equipment for the backup dispatch center will be covered by the state’s 911 fund, assuming money is available. The state limits use of the fund for expenses related to phone systems, furniture, software, hardware, training, support functions and hosting services.
When dispatchers moved into the building on Regal Street, the state’s 911 fund covered all but $172,286 of the expense. The entire project, including renovations, cost $1,070,544.
“We won’t be moving anything out of the old backup center; we’ll be purchasing all new equipment,” Palmer said. “If we don’t spend the state’s money, it will be given to another jurisdiction.”
It could take four to six months to receive the new equipment after it’s ordered. In the meantime, officials pray that nothing happens to the main 911 center’s operations or the critical infrastructure components at the downtown building that are accessed remotely, such as the communications network for Valleytown Fire & Rescue.
“The [state and equipment vendors] have told us for about six years now that one day it will all crash and be gone,” Palmer said about equipment in the backup center.
“It’s like the rapture; it could happen at any moment.”