New 911 Operations Center up and running
The new 911 Operations Center is now up and running without any major problems according to County Manager Matt Denton.
A project that has been through years of planning and purchasing equipment, and waiting for contractors to finish the work on the new facility now incorporated into the Polk County Emergency Management offices in Cedartown, Denton said that only one more piece of work remains to be finished on the project.
A special called meeting of the Public Safety committee with Commissioners Stefanie Drake Burford and Chuck Thaxton on Feb. 2 allowed the county to go ahead with the purchase and installation of an air conditioning unit for 911’s battery backup system.
He explained a heat problem was found with the amount of heat the unit was generating, because it is constantly on and “massages the electricity that’s coming into the facility.”
“It keeps all the essential processes of 911 running for up to 800 minutes,” he said.
He added that “it emits heat much more than any of us anticipated. The mechanical engineer who designed the plan didn’t anticipate it, and we didn’t anticipate it either or realize it until we got the unit in.”
Though the room was like “walking into an oven” before fans were installed as a temporary patch to the problem, Denton said that the long term fix will require an air unit that can keep running constantly, since the battery backup has to be kept at 77 degrees or cooler.
Commissioners were asked and after explanation approved a $6,200 bill for the new unit and installation, which instead of running like a regular air conditioner turning on and off only when needed, will instead constantly draw air through the room at either lower speeds when temperatures are being kept stable, and higher speeds when the battery backup needs a bit more air.
“I think it’s completely necessary to protect our equipment and the price isn’t bad,” said Burford. “I’ve dealt with a lot of this in here and out of here, that’s a very reasonable price.
Additionally, the design of the new unit will be setup to allow for the parts that can leak to be placed elsewhere in the building, so no leaks happen over the battery backup and create potential problems. Bill Haynes of Haynes Heating and Hair explained that also using this type of system that allows for variable speed to control the heat output of the battery backup system also will save the county from having to replace compressors in units on a continuous basis.
Installation of the new system was expected to be finished early this week after the Standard Journal deadline.
As the 911 operations center comes online, Denton said an army of technicians and factory representatives for equipment has been on hand to make sure the transition went smoothly on Feb. 1, and came back again on Feb. 3 to help the next shift on duty as they took to their new environment.
In the meantime, Denton said the only real work left for the building was the air unit and the need to plant shrubbery around the building, which he said that Public Works director Michael Gravett has been waiting to finish with the need for quality offerings at local nurseries for the choice of bushes to grow with spring offerings.
“He’s going to get the best looking shrubberies that they’ve got,” Denton said.
Originally Denton had also called a meeting to allow Gravett to explain expenses he needed approved by the county Public Works committee on Feb. 2, but that meeting was later called off and the issue pushed back to the Feb. 13 meeting where the full board could discuss it in their upcoming work session.
Specifically, it was being called for Gravett to request approval for spending on rental of equipment needed for the new Public Works facility project, and materials to be used with that project as well.