911 call center staying put for now

FORT WAYNE Although several new site proposals for relocating the combined city and county 911 call center are in the works, board members decided Tuesday the most logical thing to do is to stay in the same county-owned building.

Amy Biggs, Fort Wayne fire chief and president of the Consolidated Communications Partnership, which oversees the call center, initiated the discussion of moving the call center from the basement to the sixth floor of the Rousseau Centre, formerly the City-County Building.

Staying in the same building makes the most sense, she said.

Logistics and fiscal and operational responsibility these are the components we need to consider when we look at the function of 911, Biggs said.

City and county police and fire services are all located in the building, and the 911 call center is an integral part of the public safety network and should be housed under the same roof, Biggs said.

Rusty York, Fort Wayne police chief and a member of the board, said staying at the Rousseau building, but moving from the cramped basement where the center is now located to the sixth floor, would save a substantial amount of money.

The floor now houses Victim Assistance and an office for Tony Burrus, director of the Allen County Solid Waste District, but both offices could easily be moved to another floor, York said.

The rooms on the sixth floor are high enough that construction crews will not have to get into the ceilings, so the expensive and problematic asbestos removal that county officials have run into while remodeling the building will not be an issue, York said.

In 2011, the county considered using the eighth floor for the call center, but decided it would be too costly to renovate.

The renovation of the building was completed earlier this year at a cost of $4.8 million, slightly more than the estimated $4.5 million county officials were expecting.

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911 call center staying put for now