DU-COMM celebrates completion of 911 facility
The agency that provides emergency communications services for dozens of DuPage police and fire departments will move next month into a $15.8 million facility on the county's campus.
DuPage Public Safety Communications, known as DU-COMM, has outgrown its facility in Glendale Heights and created the new 911 communications center occupying roughly 34,000 square feet of renovated space and new construction at the former DuPage Juvenile Detention Facility at 420 N. County Farm Road in Winfield.
"This is a most significant day for DU-COMM," Dave Brummel, chairman of the agency's board of directors, said during a Tuesday dedication. "DU-COMM is now positioned for its future on the leading edge of public safety dispatch."
Brummel told a crowd of police, fire and elected officials that the state-of-the-art center will meet the long-term needs of DU-COMM's 44 member agencies and the residents they serve.
"This building represents a giant leap forward for DU-COMM and helps to ensure our ability to continue very high-quality dispatch service to our citizens in the coming decades," he said.
The project was possible because of an intergovernmental agreement among DU-COMM, the county and the DuPage Emergency Telephone System Board.
As part of the pact, the ETSB contributed $4 million and DU-COMM used $4.3 million from its cash reserves. The county financed the remaining $7.5 million, which DU-COMM will repay as part of a 25-year lease agreement.
County board member Jim Healy said a key benefit is that DU-COMM, DuPage ETSB and the county's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management now will be under the same roof.
"This building represents what happens when willing people and agencies share the same vision," said Healy, who is chairman of the county's public works committee.
The plan called for renovating space in the former youth home and building a roughly 13,400-square-foot addition.
The facility features a large communications room that has 34 call-taking and dispatch consoles surrounded by 12-inch-thick concrete walls designed to protect it from extreme weather conditions.
Officials said the facility has space to expand, providing a 25-year solution for the agency's needs.
"This building is for the first responders who put their lives on the line, for the telecommunicators that devote their services to the people and for, most importantly, the citizens and the residents of DuPage County," said Gary Grasso, a county board member who serves as chairman of the Emergency Telephone System Board. "This is what government does: It protects people and it protects property."
When DU-COMM moves to the new facility, it will be a homecoming of sorts. It started operations on the county campus in 1975 before moving to Glendale Heights in 1995.
Brian Tegtmeyer, the executive director of DU-COMM, said the plan is to move into the facility by the end of August.
"We have to bring all the systems up and train our staff on the facility," he said. "Once that's all achieved and we get our final systems online, we'll look to be moving in."
In the meantime, DU-COMM is inviting residents to see the facility for themselves during an open house this weekend. Tours will be offered from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday.