Avon Lake to upgrade police dispatch center

The city of Avon Lake will move forward on a project to upgrade the Avon Lake Police Department’s dispatch center to be completed by the end of 2017.

At the Sept. 18 Avon Lake collective committee meeting, police Chief Duane Streator reported the department had received bids totaling $302,421 for the upgrade of dispatch consoles as well as video equipment and radio equipment for the police and fire departments.

“The process was replacing all of our radios so we can go to a digital platform in the Police Department and that included replacing all the radios in our vehicles, all the portable radios we have and most importantly, our dispatch radio,” Streator said.

The chief is requesting Council to accept the bids. He added that after moving into the present location in 2000, all of the equipment is at least 17 years old making the upgrades a growing necessity for the department.

“This is the last part of the dispatch center upgrade,” Streator said.

The upgrades were approved at the last safety committee meeting and were budgeted for $320,000 with the present bids on the table coming at a cost savings for the city.

The project is expected to be approved by the Council by Oct. 10 and Streator said the installation of the new equipment should be completed by year’s end.