Construction on new 911 Operations Center underway
The latest purchase for the new 9-1-1 Operations Center for Polk County is on order as the county commission approved spending for a new recording system.
The Voice Recording System, which is one of the most integral pieces of the network connecting emergency callers with responders, was bidded out and Replay Systems Inc., which included an annual maintenance contract on with their final price, will get the business for $24,303.00.
This piece of the electronics package will take in all conversations 9-1-1 has with a caller or first responder by radio and records every moment for future recall and in case of serious problems or need for review.
The Public Safety committee approved the purchase not just based on price – with Replay still the low bidder over BIS Digital Inc., who wanted $27,028.25 for the recorder – but also on the longevity of the company, how other cities and counties felt about their overall performance, and also because Replay is already in use with 9-1-1 currently.
However, the system is well dated and in need of replacement.
County manager Matt Denton explained that essentially the recorder acts as a computer, with the software being the key component to make the whole system work.
“This could almost be any kind of server we want it to be, but what matters most is the software package loaded up on it, which will do all the recording work and save the files digitally to be kept for whenever they might be needed,” he said.
The money will come from the Landfill Fund Balance, which was also used to purchase the new Phone Switch used to relay calls to operators from outside lines.
With this piece of equipment now set to be delivered once construction is done – along with consoles, the phone switch, the Computer Aided Dispatch system – the 9-1-1 Center upgrades will complete a package designed to bring the operations into the 21st century.
Footings on the new center to be attached to the Polk County Emergency Operations Center were being prepared for pouring, Denton reported last week as work on the addition began.