By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS -- Cass County considered three options to resolve the cramped quarters of Central Dispatch in the 1990 Sheriff's Office before settling on renovating the former Council on Aging building north of the courthouse annex.
The $1.2 million project which will be open for public tours Monday, Oct. 6, from 4 to 7 p.m. after remarks by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton also had potential to be attached to the sheriff's office and jail or constructed adjacent to them.
It's a gain of 7,000 square feet from the 2,000 at the Sheriff's Office to 9,000 on Broadway.
The addition was 2,000 square feet. The stand-alone building was 2,500 square feet. "They would have cost as much as renovating this building, and we were going to pick up all this additional space," Underwood said.
The lower level addresses needs for evidence and records storage.
The dispatch center's equipment is all individualized. Each dispatcher has a cart like a foot locker which rolls out on wheels for their shift.
Each dispatcher will be measured for his or her console, which is designed to compensate by computer.
With the press of a button like one would adjust a hospital bed, the entire desk surface can rise up or lower.
Each dispatcher will be fitted for a seated position and a standing position. They log in their personal number and the equipment automatically adjusts to their individual dimensions.
Some prefer to stand while choreographing responses to "hot" calls, like a personal injury accident with phone calls coming in and police and fire agencies responding to a remote scene.
The console adjusts to their height without any loss of valuable time.
The 911 computers were already hooked up when the Daily News toured the facility Thursday afternoon.
Yet to be installed Wednesday is the new radio base system.
The CAD system (computer-aided dispatch) will actually be moving from the former center, hopefully by the end of October. That 8-year-old system is expected to be upgraded by February.
Computers are housed in special fan-cooled cabinets that muffle the hum. There are windows so dispatchers will be able to see outdoors for the first time.
Included are three E-911 consoles, a conference room that can be mobilized as the county Emergency Operations Center, or EOC, and an exercise area with showers and lockers so county employees can stay physically fit. A break room is set up like a kitchenette.
Director Doug Westrick has an office right off the floor overlooking the consoles for more direct supervision.
In the present location he shares space with four road sergeants "and you've got to get through four locked doors to get to dispatch," Behnke said.
There are always at least two people operating the 911 center, which takes a staff of eight for round-the-clock coverage.
Fielding a medical call or a domestic violence situation can require staying on the phone for a prolonged time gathering information and giving out instructions.
There is room to add a fourth console. The third console will alternate between peak periods and a training station.
EOC tables around the room are equipped with phone, computer and Internet capabilities. Its training area is scheduled for mid-October, when law enforcement officers will gather for Pressure Point Control Tactics instruction.
Emergency Management Coordinator Bernie Williamson will have an office connected to the EOC. She works 20 hours a week.
Another office houses Skywarn, the ham radio operators.
Underwood acknowledged that he and his command officers had to weigh management issues of whether the E-911 center would be too isolated from the Sheriff's Office and jail.
While Cass County is a relatively small, rural county, all 911 calls, including wireless, ring into Central Dispatch. There is a baker's dozen of 13 fire departments if you count Sister Lakes, straddling Cass and Van Buren counties, plus seven ambulance services.
Fire and ambulance calls combined represent 8 to 9 percent of the volume of calls. "Police are 91 percent," Behnke said. "But most of the fire and ambulance calls are emergency calls."