Communications equipment at Allen County’s 911 dispatch center will be upgraded and a mobile console added thanks to a $222,233.43 grant from the Kansas Wireless Enhanced 911 Advisory Board.
The mobile console with laptop will permit dispatch services to continue should a disaster such as a tornado hit the center. “We will be able to take it into the vault (safe room) and continue to dispatch no matter what,” Angie Murphy, 911 director, told county commissioners Tuesday.
Murphy said $73,000 would go to establish an off-site repository for all center information, including criminal histories. The secure back-up server will be hosted by Advantage Computer Enterprises at its site in Iola’s industrial district.
Murphy noted the latest award pushes total grant monies received to $474,000, which have paid for essentially all communication equipment and upgrades at the center at 410 N. State St. which went online Jan. 28.
IN A RELATIVELY brief session, commissioners authorized Ron Holman, building and grounds director, to purchase an eight-foot-long lawn bench made of recycled vehicle tires and plastic from Champlin Tire Recycling in Concordia.
Cost will be $299, including shipping, for the 230-pound bench. Commissioners are considering replacing benches near the bandstand. If the bench meets with their approval, they may order more.
Holman said a Champlin official told him grant money may be available to pay half the cost of additional benches.
Today, 11 12-foot benches are on the lawn. A 12th was removed because “it was just worn out,” Holman said. The remainder are also worn.
STEVEN SMITH, president of Universal Construction Co., Lenexa, told commissioners his company was interested in building Allen County’s new hospital. They advised him that hospital trustees, who meet Tuesday evenings, would be more involved than they in selecting a contractor.
Smith, an Iola native and 1973 graduate of Iola High School, said construction costs were now about 15 percent lower than two years ago. He noted Universal would match local craftsmen and laborers to companies constructing the hospital should Universal be selected as general contractor.
Universal, in business since 1931, has healthcare construction experience with more than 300 projects totaling over $800 million, a brochure given commissioners said.
