Sept. 19--Construction for the Independence Communications Center, which will serve as the new home for police and fire dispatch, should begin this fall.
The City Council on Monday approved fund appropriations totaling $4.3 million for the building, which will be located just south of the Utilities Center off 23rd Street.
The design by Hoefer Wysocki Architects was completed last month -- pending council approval in the near future -- and a groundbreaking ceremony will be scheduled for some time in October. The new dispatch center had been slated for the lot just east of the Utilities Center before a change in plans.
Monday's appropriations include $3.5 million of tax increment financing funds -- specifically the Eastland commercial district TIF -- and $800,000 from the fire public safety sales tax fund. The last operating budget included $500,000 from police public safety sales tax funds for the new dispatch center.
The current dispatch center is in the basement of the Central Police Building constructed in the early 1970s, covering just less than 1,800 square feet. In presenting initial plans last year before the City Council, Chief of Police Brad Halsey said the space has become cramped and the current layout offered limited options to modernize and improve.
A remodeling project for the dispatch center had been slated when the safety sales taxes first were approved by voters in 2004, but plans got mothballed due to revenue shortfalls.
Halsey promised the new building would be "simple, but functional" and would use current technology wherever possible.
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