The Carter County 911 dispatch center is getting closer to moving into its new office space.
The Carter County 911 Emergency Board of Directors Wednesday approved a bid for a furniture order, one of the last steps to get the new facility on Sycamore Street ready for occupancy. The move could happen as early as mid-June.
The dispatch center, which has outgrown its office near the Carter County Health Department, received a grant to upgrade equipment for the new building.
Board chair Andrew Worley in an update on the progress at the building said the renovations were substantially complete, with only minor items like painting and cleaning left to be completed. The city’s building department issued a certificate of occupancy for the building April 7, so once all the work is finished and furniture is in place, the move can begin.
Emergency Communications Deputy Director Danny Banks said the communication tower at the new building had been installed, but was not completely operational yet. He said once the tower was completely connected it would be tested to make sure it is functional.
Banks said the dispatch center could start to move some items to the new facility, such as materials they don’t use frequently. Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes inquired if there would be any downtime in communications when the move occurred. Banks said he didn’t anticipate any problems, but that portable radios would be on-hand and the communication system at the old building would be available.
As for the furniture bids, Worley said that was one of the only items remaining to be approved. The board received four bids and two of those met the requirements. The lowest and the highest of the four did not meet the set requirements of the bid.
The lowest of the two eligible bids was $59,000 for Watson Furniture for five workstations. The other eligible bid was $64,807 from Xybix. Worley said both came in under the $60,000 to $65,000 budget set for office furniture.
Mathes asked if the old office furniture could be reused, and if the board could attempt to negotiate a lower price with Watson Furniture.
“I think we could save on the project and we could save for the taxpayers,” Mathes said. “There is nothing wrong with trying.”
The board agreed to try to negotiate a lower price, but were cautioned it could delay the order of the furniture and slow the move-in date. After order, the furniture would take eight weeks to be delivered.
Mathes made a motion for the board to spend up to $59,000 for the bid from Watson Furniture. The motion was unanimously approved.