By RANDY BARTLEY
Staff writer
Clarion County commissioners announced Tuesday the county has purchased the former Sorce building in Paint Township.
The building will be converted into the county’s new 9-1-1 emergency management center.
The 9-1-1 facility is currently located in the old Clarion County Jail.
The 50,000-square foot former warehouse building is located opposite the Clarion County jail near Shippenville. The county bought the building from the Wein Brothers building account for $670,000.
The county also purchased two parcels of ground adjacent to the Sorce building. One parcel was purchased from Lila Holding LLC for $40,000 and a second was bought from Winscot Inc. and Smathers Managing Partner for an additional $40,000.
A total of 3.4 acres was involved in the purchase.
Tharan said the front office section of the building had been remodeled about two years ago. That part of the building is of cement block and brick construction and will be the new home of the 9-1-1 dispatch center and the Emergency Management Agency.
Tharan said the county maintenance staff will be able to do most of the remodeling.
Tharan said the balance of the building will be used for everything from storage, a COVID testing site, a possible location for vote tabulation and storage for EMA equipment.
“The space in the Sorce building gives us so many options,” said Tharan. “We will be able to consolidate some services.”
Jeff Smathers, Clarion County’s director of public Safety, said a great deal of work needs to be done before the building is ready for use. He said a tower would be erected at the site and a new fiber optic line would need to be installed.
Smathers said the work could take up to 180 days.
“For a certain amount of time we are going to have two centers,” said Smathers. “There is no way we can say we will be here one day and there the next day. We get calls 24/7 and there is no way to flip that switch. Even when that day does come we will continue to take calls at the old center and then migrate to the new center.”
“We have to do this right,” said Smathers.
Smathers said the new center will have new equipment, and the current equipment may be used as a backup.
“We have other plans for that,” said Smathers.
Tharan said the cost to move the center is between $300,000 to $500,000.
“This is not an easy task,” said Smathers. “It takes a lot of planning and that is why we involved MCM. I have done a lot of this but you get to the point where you need help.”
MCM has been engaged by the county for several tower projects.
A portion of the funding for the new 9-1-1 center will come from the county’s $3,471,292 COVID-19 relief block grant from the CARES Act. The portion of the project that would be funded by the CARES grant would need to be completed by Dec. 31 to comply with the grant guidelines.
Tharan said plans for the old county jail are uncertain.
Tharan said the former Holobaugh Beer Distributor building on Route 322 that had been purchased by the county will be placed for sale.