NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — Work on an $85 million 911 dispatch and emergency operations center will begin in Hamilton County next month.
It is a project that has been in the works for years and aims to accommodate the county’s rapid growth.
“The calls and demands for public service have grown with population growth,” said Hamilton County Commissioner Christine Altman.
Hamilton County is considered one of the Hoosier state’s fastest-growing communities, which means emergency response has to adapt to those changing needs.
“People, when they call 911, they want an answer,” said Altman.
Altman said the county has outgrown its current 911 dispatch center which sits in the basement of the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
“So even if I got more dispatchers, we wouldn’t have a seat for them,” she said.
The county is looking to turn an empty plot of land in Noblesville into a three-story 911 center.
“This facility will allow us to have adequate staffing and adequate equipment to make sure if you call, you get an answer and you get help as quickly as we can provide it,” said Altman.
The new facility would also house the Hamilton County Emergency Operations Center, which is also currently in the basement of the sheriff’s office.
“When you look around and you look behind me at all the monitors, computers and all those things, our job has not only become much larger in quantity but it’s become much more complex, which means more staffing, more people and more equipment,” described Hamilton County Emergency Management Executive Director Chad Knecht.
Knecht said his agency works very closely with dispatch and other first responders. He said the new facility will help his team expand and protect the community during any crisis.
“Whatever the role is for us to help with any phase of that planning, preparing, responding, recovering and mitigating and those circumstances, whatever it may be, that’s our mission,” said Knecht. “We develop the plans for those responses and we help staff those responses.”
A 0.1% public service local income tax will help pay for the new 108,000-square-foot complex. Construction is expected to start next month and is expected to last 26 months.
