Wauconda finalizing plans to upgrade emergency dispatch center

Wauconda officials vowed to keep the village’s 9-1-1 emergency dispatch center “in house” if voters approved the fire district referendum last year.

Police Chief Doug Larsson said the village is about to make good on that promise.

The village is putting the final paperwork requests in place to begin work creating a new emergency dispatch center at the police department, he said. It will feature new, state-of-the-art equipment and safer housing when work is completed by late summer.

The final project cost is undetermined, but Larsson said it would be in the neighborhood of $350,000 to $400,000.

“It’s going to be an excellent asset to the village and the residents,” he said. “We said, if the referendum was approved, we would keep it here. So, when it was approved, the board made a strong push to keep it in house.”

The original Wauconda communications center was built inside the police department in 1992, and only minor renovations and upgrades have taken place since, Larsson said.

Officials determined in 2009 that a massive upgrade of the center would be needed, but the faltering economy forced the village to shelve the idea.

When the Wauconda Fire District referendum restructured the debt in the village, it reopened the door to complete the upgrades.

This latest upgrade will bring the center completely up to date with all the required technological aspects, Larsson said. The center will be moved from the first floor of the police station to the basement, where there is more room and additional safety benefits.

“Right now, if there is a tornado or something, the dispatchers would leave their posts and head to the basement,” he said. “By moving the center into the basement, dispatchers will be able to remain at their posts and continue working while also remaining safe.”

The additional space and equipment upgrades will allow officials to try to attract other departments in need of dispatching services, Larsson added.

Currently, the center dispatches for Wauconda Police, the Wauconda Fire Protection District and answers 9-1-1 emergency calls — but does not dispatch — for Island Lake Police. The department recently signed a contract with the village of Tower Lakes to handle dispatch services.

“We will have four dispatch points instead of 2.5 points, which allows us to serve other communities in need of high-level dispatch services,” Larsson said. “We feel, when the upgrade is completed, that we will easily be able to accommodate small to medium-sized departments through our dispatching capabilities.”