Jun. 10—Dispatchers are settling in at the new Johnson County Emergency Communications Center. A grand opening and ribbon cutting was held May 31 and dispatchers moved in the following Monday.

A crowd gathered to celebrate the new building and several proclamations were presented during the grand opening.

“Whereas the work of dispatchers is frequently thankless, sometimes unseen and rarely recognized for the vital role they play in promoting public safety, keeping law enforcement officers safe and protecting our community,” Johnson County Judge Chris Boedeker read in the first proclamation honoring county dispatchers. “And whereas dispatchers are recognized as first responders and represented by the thin gold line, and whereas dispatchers work in a high stress, fast-paced environment, making life and death decisions equipped only with a computer and a headset. And whereas Johnson County citizens owe a debt of gratitude to these unseen first responders, and we honor them today for the work they do every day and every night. And whereas Johnson County has a moral obligation to provide our dispatchers with a safe, secure and comfortable workspace so that they can efficiently serve our community. And whereas Johnson County by utilizing the federal ARPA grant constructed the Johnson County 911 dispatch center with the commitment to provide our dispatchers with the best possible working environment. Now therefore be it resolved that we the members of the commissioner’s court of Johnson County, Texas, do hereby dedicate the Johnson County 911 dispatch center and honor of the past present and future dispatchers who have served and continue to serve the citizens of Johnson County.”

All four Johnson County commissioners shared their thoughts about the much anticipated facility.

“One of the best things about this project is we’re serving public safety through this 911 center,” Commissioner Larry Woolley said. “But the second best thing is that we were able to use non-taxpayer funds to fund it through the ARPA funds that we received at the federal level two to three years ago

“We’re approaching the end of that process. We gave a lot of awards to nonprofits. But this was the biggest county project that we funded with it so they didn’t cost us anything. So we’re so proud to have it. and we’re so proud that to see so many people from the community here to witness this event.”

Commissioner Mike White said that it is important to recognize that the building was built large enough to last the county the next 20-25 years as the county continues to grow.

“More than anything I want to thank and show appreciation for each and every first responder, no matter what uniform you wear, no matter what badge you have, no matter what department you’re from, I want to say thank you,” Commissioner Kenny Howell said. “But today, I think a huge thank you should go to the ones what I consider to be the first first responders, because when something happens and you dial 911, the people that are in this building right behind me are the very, very first contact that those people have made. And those people are the ones who are directing the sheriff’s department, the fire department, first aid, ambulance care, whatever. So I just want to say thank you. I think we should show a great deal of appreciation to these dispatchers.”

Commissioner Rick Bailey said we’re living in times that we’re seeing growth all over the county and the state of Texas.

“This is just a milestone today to just guarantee citizens that are here now in the future, that when they make that 911 call, they’re gonna get a response,” he said. “We’ve left plenty of room here to grow for that unprecedented growth that we’ve got. Many thanks for before this was ever even considered the old environment that would that we worked in. And some of that is only going to be better now for the future of our employees here.”

Boedeker said that in addition to the new facility, the county was able to leverage some of the ARPA grant funds to perform upgrades to the dispatch software.

“I think we are in the midst of creating what is probably one of the most technologically advanced dispatch operations in the country where we’re cutting edge, we have the newest dispatch consoles that Motorola offers, we have the best building I’ve ever seen for a dispatch center, we have software that will keep up with them,” he said.

Former Johnson County Judge Roger Harmon, who was in office when plans began for the dispatch center, said he has regrets that he didn’t listen to former Sheriff Bob Alford sooner on the need for a dispatch center.

“And then Sheriff [Adam] King came to me,” he said. “When he got in office and said, ‘Judge, we’re out of room, we’ve got to do something about our 911 area.’ So I got with the commissioners, they are all very supportive of it. They actually were supportive of it before we received ARPA funding.

“The increased growth added a tremendous amount of revenue for Johnson County. And so with that, we were able to do some things that we couldn’t do before.”

King said it was about five years ago that he was sitting in his truck with Harmon at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, looking at the empty lot and thinking about how nice it would be to have a 911 center there one day.

“And he never forgot that conversation that we had,” King said. “And whenever he found a way to do it, he started getting the wheels turning on it. I thank you for keeping that in the back of your mind until the opportunity to present itself to go ahead and move on this project.”

When King and others visited other dispatch centers to get ideas for their facility, they knew they wanted to try to create a space for dispatchers dealing with stress.

“Dispatching is a hard job, I’ve always said it’s the hardest job in criminal justice,” he said. “I stick by that. The reason why it’s stressful is whenever they get a call, they don’t get to go deep compress. A lot of times, they’ve got to be ready to take another call. Sometimes they have a few minutes, sometimes they don’t. But we wanted to give them a work environment that tried to help mitigate that and give them an open airy place to where they felt comfortable.”

To provide that space to decompress, they created a garden area in the middle of the center where dispatchers can go out and relax a bit before the next call.

There is also an exercise room.

“So after a very stressful call, they can get rid of some of that pent up energy that they’ve dealt with by going in the exercise room and exercising for a little bit and release some of them,” King said. “So it’s a totally different concept than any other dispatch office that I’m aware of. and I think that in the future as people come and visit this I think we’re probably going to see it more and more because that’s the name of the game is to give a good work environment.”

Dispatcher Nathaniel Edens was presented a sheriff’s citation for his work in helping with the construction and outfitting of the new facility.

“Johnson County Communications Supervisor Nathaniel Edens offered input into the design of the building, as well as insight into the necessary equipment required to bring the center online,” King said. “Edens went on to play a large role in researching and evaluating said equipment and took a leadership role in coordinating the physical move of emergency dispatch services to the new site.”

A sheriff’s citation was also presented to Cameron George, who works as a system administrator for the county. He is only one of a few to receive one who does not work for the JCSO.

“Cameron George has for the past year demonstrated a great amount of technical knowledge and pure coordination skills pertaining to the numerous interconnected technologies that are required to make the Johnson County Emergency Communications Center operational,” King said. “He has coordinated with many contractors, vendors, utility service, and other governmental agencies, including his own department, to make sure that everything was done to the highest standards and at specific times in order to keep the project on schedule. Cameron George has a very friendly and professional demeanor that has encouraged collaboration and teamwork among the many contributors to this project.”

After speeches were concluded, the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting for the new facility and guests were invited to tour the building.