By Edward Husar
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
Adams County's new 911 communications center at 52nd and Maine is nearing completion, but local officials are still months away from putting an enhanced 911 system into operation.
John Johnson, chairman of the Quincy/Adams County 911 Governing Board, said "just a few minor issues" need to be resolved before the building can be turned over to the 911 agency.
"It's probably 95 to 98 percent complete," he said.
Ground was broken in September for the 5,328-square-foot facility just east of the Adams County Youth Home. Leander Construction Inc. of Canton, Ill., was awarded the $1.26 million contract.
The building not only will house the 911 dispatch center, currently in the basement of the Adams County Courthouse, but it also will provide space for an emergency operations center. In addition, it will have an office for the coordinator of the county's emergency management agency.
Completion of the center is one step needed to get an enhanced 911 system up and running — a project that's expected to cost between $2.6 million and $2.8 million once all the bills are tallied.
Adams County currently has a "basic" 911 system, which simply allows callers to dial three digits to summon help. Callers then must describe their location. An "enhanced" system will automatically display the caller's location and which police, fire and ambulance agencies have jurisdiction.
"It will be a big step forward for Adams County," Johnson said. "It will basically bring us up to the rest of the world."
The new system will initially provide enhanced services just for landline phones but it will eventually work fully with wireless phones.
Johnson said it's difficult to say when the enhanced system will go online because many variables can come into play. "I would say late winter or early spring," he said. "Probably January or somewhere in that ballpark would be our guess."
The governing board continues to oversee the development of the enhanced 911 system, which is taking place during the construction of the new center.
The board awarded a $649,590 contract to Motorola for enhanced 911 telephone equipment, radio control communications equipment, digital recording equipment and structured cabling.
Once work on the communications center was far enough along, 911 officials were able to start installing some of the equipment, though a few larger pieces won't arrive until August. The equipment must go through a rigorous testing process to make sure it works properly.
One big effort under way now is the creation of a database of all Adams County addresses and telephone numbers. Johnson said the county is working with several telephone companies to gather the most accurate information available.
"We're making sure that the telephone numbers actually match to an existing address," he said.
Meanwhile, the 911 board has filed a draft of its enhanced 911 application with the Illinois Commerce Commission, which makes sure all such systems meet state standards.
Once the new system is online, the existing 911 dispatch facility in the courthouse will be retrofitted for enhanced 911 and become a backup facility.
Sharon Tedrow, assistant 911 director, said the dispatching staff is eager to move into the new facility.
"We're all excited about it," she said. "We're not totally cramped, but we're looking forward to having more space to move around in."
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