LATEST NEWS
Wednesday,
October 27, 2004
FEMA grant to
help fund Hermiston Safety Center
By ANDREW BINION
of the East Oregonian
abinion@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Police Chief
Dan Coulombe hopes $450,000 in funding to upgrade the area’s dispatch capabilities
will coincide with other construction and upgrades slated for the Hermiston
Safety Center, but officials said they aren’t sure when the grant will arrive.
“This building is not as young as it needs to be and some maintenance
issues are ongoing,” Coulombe said Tuesday. “Let’s fix all the issues if
we can.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, will be paying
most of the $500,000 bill for a new computer dispatch console so that emergency
response personnel can freely communicate if a crisis should arise at the
Umatilla Chemical Depot.
The City of Hermiston is expected to put $50,000 toward the project.
The new technology can also be used by local police and fire departments
to make sending an officer or ambulance to an emergency more efficient.
The Hermiston Safety Center, which serves as headquarters for city
police and fire services, will soon be expanded to provide a new fire facility.
Coulombe sees this as a good opportunity to begin improving police
facilities.
On Monday night, Coulombe gave city officials a tour of the building
to show them what changes need to be made.
The City Council is supportive, City Manager Ed Brookshier said,
but the city is not at the “final decision point.”
Initially the city wants to be sure it will not be required to pay
more than $50,000, he said. Then there needs to be an agreement on what building
improvements will be undertaken.
“Once those two issues are fully settled, I believe the council will
be ready to move forward,” Brookshier said, adding the council will likely
approve the city’s contribution in early 2005.
Umatilla County Emergency Manager Meg Capps said building improvements
must take place before the new dispatch system is installed, which includes
a series of renovations from upgrading the wiring and lighting to removing
carpet and improving ventilation and climate control in the room where the
new dispatch console will be placed.
“With these computers, it gets really hot,” Capps said, adding she
believes federal funding will arrive soon.
“Typically during an election year in D.C. things move more smoothly,”
she said. “We can only hope it will be sooner rather than later.”