The site of the future Cortland County emergency response center in the city of Cortland. (Photo Source: Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Cortland County Emergency Response and Communications Director Scott Roman recently announced that construction of the 911 Center in the city of Cortland will begin next week.
Roman said at Tuesday’s County Legislature Buildings and Grounds Committee meeting that all contracts with general contractors and construction managers have been signed, but the county is still waiting to find a proper schedule to begin work with the designated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) contractor.
The construction work for next week at the structure at 22 W. Court St. will focus on the interior of the building.
Legislators said the entire project, which will also include external upgrades to the building, will cost up to $1.3 million.
The project is being worked on in phases. This first phase, Roman said, will focus on rehabbing the inside of the building and could be done in eight months. Currently, the emergency dispatch crew operates out of the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office at 54 Greenbush St.
The county, Roman said, has a Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant (SICG) for $1,572,808, administered by the State’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES).
“We should start to see a lot of activity there in the next few weeks and things get moving,” said Legislature Minority Leader Beau Harbin, LD-2. “Hopefully, if we are able to stay on contract the work could be done on the interior and possibly even moving in by the end of the year.”
Harbin, who was involved in planning for the new 911 Center when he was chair of the Legislature’s Buildings and Grounds Committee prior to the start of 2020, told the Cortland Voice Wednesday the new facility will be state-of-the-art.
“This location will fit right into the community with a minimal amount of traffic but with a space that is in use and safe for the residents,” he added. “This has been a long time coming and we will finally have this building back into use for the county this year.”
