Bartholomew County’s 911 Emergency Operations Center is renovating its offices, the first major physical change in 17 years.
During the first two weeks of August, workers will transform the center’s current conference room into two offices — one for director Todd Noblitt and the other for deputy director Julie Pierce, Noblitt said.
The final two weeks of the month will be spent renovating current office space into the new conference room, he said.
The objective is to provide an enlarged conference room suitable for representatives of all branches of government and public safety agencies to meet during emergencies, Noblitt said.
No tax dollars will be involved in the upcoming project.
The center will spend $50,000 to do the renovation obtained from Verizon Wireless, which pays $2,000 a month into a special fund in exchange for space on the Bartholomew County’s transmitting tower, Noblitt said.
Money in that fund can only be used for equipment or renovations, he said.
Since Bartholomew County emplooyees will be doing the work, Noblitt said the costs should be about half what they would be if a private contractor were hired to do the work.
As of the first of July, there was about $91,000 in the account. Noblitt said the $41,000 balance should be a sufficient in case of any unexpected equipment breakdowns.
