Clarion County’s new 9-1-1 emergency center should be up and running by May 2022.
“That is our tentative date,” Clarion County commissioner Ted Tharan said Wednesday. “We don’t know what will be back-ordered. It seems everything is back-ordered right now.”
Tharan said a great deal of work has been done to the former Sorce warehouse in Shippenville. Plans call for the communications center to be built within the 50,000-square-foot building.
Tharan said some of the new communications equipment has arrived but some is still on order. He said all the racks for the equipment have been delivered.
A row of offices in the same area will house the public safety department. A conference room will become the “war room” for countywide emergencies, and another three offices will be used as “breakout rooms”
Work is also proceeding on other areas of the building.
“They are also putting new steel siding on the south side of the building so they can install the new electrical service,” said Tharan. “They are getting ready to start forming for the new aprons outside the garage doors and sidewalks.”
Other county facilities will be located in the building. A portion of the building will be dedicated to the storage of records that will be removed from the old county jail.
The storage area in the warehouse will be used by the county’s maintenance department and for vehicle storage.
In April, the county purchased a Generac Industrial diesel engine-driven generator from Kelly Generator & Equipment Inc. at a cost of $60,732. The generator will be installed at the Sorce building and is a required item in the event of an emergency.
There will be enough fuel on hand to keep the center running for five days.
The county purchased the building from the Wein Brothers Building Account for $670,000. The county also bought two parcels of ground adjacent to the Sorce building.