911 center remodeling falls behind schedule

Niles dispatchers are learning to work some of the new equipment.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- Remodeling and updating the Niles 911 Center has fallen slightly behind schedule, partly because of some old live wires.
The $485,000 project was originally scheduled for completion by Sept. 19. Tom Telego, director of the city's office of emergency management, said Thursday that it won't be up and running for two more weeks.
The project was undertaken so that Niles can dispatch emergency 911 calls for McDonald and Weathersfield Township, rather than have those calls dispatched by the Trumbull County 911 Center in Howland.
Telego said some of the equipment has been installed and is working. This is giving Niles dispatchers a chance to train on it.
Wires and cables
One of the issues that is putting the project behind, Telego explained, is that unknown wires and cables were uncovered during the remodeling of the city dispatching center at the police department.
He said the old communications cables, some of which have electricity flowing in them, were left behind when the center was retrofitted in the 1970s.
When a worker touched one of the cables Thursday morning, it arced -- leaving behind some smoke in the center.
Another reason for the setback is that police involved in the project were drawn away from the center earlier this month to search for a missing young man. He was eventually found in a pond off Salt Springs Road.
Dispatching changes
Because of the added workload for McDonald and Weathersfield that the center will have, the number of dispatchers will increase from one to two. In the meantime, dispatching has been done from a temporary call center in the police conference room.
Telego said the city has letters of understanding with McDonald and Weathersfield.
Weathersfield will pay Niles $65,000 a year, compared with the $57,000 cost of a one-year contract with the county. Township officials have said they were not pleased with the county 911 dispatching service.
McDonald's figure was not available Thursday.
The contracts with the two communities, Telego said, won't be signed until a firm date is known for the switch.
"There's a lot of coordination with the county 911," for when the county terminates the McDonald and Weathersfield service and Niles picks it up, he added.
yovich@vindy.com