911 Center moving to temporary new home (Bismark, North Dakota)

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http://www.ndonline.com/TribWebPage/sep1999/917199971444.html

Friday, September 17, 1999

911 Center moving to temporary new home

JEFFREY G. OLSON, Bismarck Tribune

__________

The Burleigh-Bismarck Combined Communications and 911 Center will move back

to the Bismarck police station as early as Sept. 22.

Dispatchers at the 911 center have been working at State Radio and in a

converted RV parked at a north Bismarck fire station since a mold- and

bacteria-infested basement bunker in the city police station at 700 S. Ninth

St. was abandoned Tuesday.

When the next move is completed, dispatchers will work from the second-floor

library at the police station.

However, Bismarck Police Chief Deborah Ness doesn't want to lose the library

permanently, which could come up at a 9 a.m. meeting today at the

Bismarck-Mandan Area Chamber of Commerce.

Officials from Morton and Burleigh counties and Bismarck and Mandan will

meet at the Chamber of Commerce to consider the feasibility of combining

emergency communications into one central location.

Morton-Mandan Emergency Operations Director Steve Conmy will present a

request for a proposal that would bring in a third party to investigate

different aspects of a multi-county, multi-city, multi-agency dispatch

center.

As for the current effort to relocate the Burleigh-Bismarck center, Bismarck

City Administrator Bill Wocken said a move from the police station basement

to the second-floor library will cost about $10,000 to $15,000.

The goal, he said, is to have dispatchers back at their regular

communication consoles by midweek.

The decision to relocate was made Thursday morning by the 911 Center board

of directors -- representatives from the city and county, fire and police,

Sheriff's Department and Metro Area Ambulance.

Wocken said the board also considered moving the 911 Center to the

City-County Building or the Provident Building, both on Fifth Street

downtown, or the north side fire station.

Economics played a primary role in the decision to move to the police

library.

" We only have to extend communication lines within the building, " Wocken

said. " If we'd relocated outside the building, we'd have had to have U S

West string new telephone lines. That would have been 30 to 45 days and

$60,000 to $70,000. "

The 911 Center board declared an emergency Tuesday and the center was moved

from the police station basement to State Radio and the mobile command

center RV within four hours.

The board made the move based on North Dakota Health Department

recommendations.

The 911 Center has been in the basement of the police station since the

building opened in 1979. It has been plagued by environmental problems for

six years.

Some dispatchers have been hospitalized following unexplained episodes of

carbon monoxide poisoning. And there has been periodic flood damage. The

latest flooding occurred in June and again in August, both times following

significant rainfall.

Mold and bacteria began to grow on wall surfaces and flooring after the

flood water was removed. Dispatchers began to suffer respiratory ailments

and reported allergylike reactions, such as runny noses and itchy, watery

eyes. Two dispatchers reported skin infections and stapf infections.

At one time last week, 10 of the 15 dispatchers were ill; two were under

doctor's orders not to return to work in the basement dispatch center until

it was free of mold and bacteria.

City officials last week thought they had mold and bacteria banished from

the building. They had removed carpets, sheet rock and had cleaned and

disinfected. But during a tour Monday, State Health Department scientists

found water still leaking into the basement through conduit. They also found

additional mold and bacteria growth and advised the 911 Center board to move

dispatchers until the place could be completely cleaned of mold and flood

water.