LITTLE VALLEY — The Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office and Office of Emergency Services are proposing to build a backup 911 Center and relocate the OES offices.
The sheriff’s office is also looking for permission to buy an armored vehicle and to build a large cold storage building near the current Department of Public Works Facility on Route 242.
Capt. Jordan Haines, the sheriff’s chief of detectives, Emergency Services Director Chris Baker discussed the proposals with members of the County Legislature’s County Operations/Public Safety Committee on Feb. 16.
Haines said many counties have backup locations for their Emergency 911 centers in the event their main 911 center goes offline.
The joint proposal includes moving the Emergency Services offices to an area near the Public Works Facility to the same building being proposed to house a backup E-911 Center. It would be in the same vicinity as the proposed 120-foot by 60-foot cold storage barn.
Baker said the project could be done in two phases: The E-911 backup center and Emergency Services offices could be built in the first phase and the cold storage building after the first building is completed.
“If anything happens to our main 911 center, it would be wise to have a backup,” Baker said. By moving Emergency Services offices to the same facility, there would be someone on site daily. It also opens up space in the basement of the County Center on Court Street where the OES offices are currently located, he said.
Baker said the cold storage building would offer protection for emergency vehicles including two mobile command centers, a fire investigation vehicle, mobile lights and other equipment that are currently stored outdoors.
Haines said equipment is in a secure area surrounded by a fence, but that “it is out in the elements. It reduces the life of the vehicles.”
Haines also made a pitch for the purchase of an armored vehicle for the Sheriff’s Department.
He cited the response to a shooting in Salamanca late last year when police outside confronted the shooter inside a house without cover. Police would have been safer with an armored vehicle, he said.
The nearest armored vehicles are hours away, Haines said. Both state police and the Erie County Sheriff’s Department have armored vehicles, but they often arrive after an incident is over.
Haines said the department is proposing an F-550 Ford truck with an armor shell. The cost is in the $200,000 range.
Committee members asked about the estimated cost of the backup E-911 center and Emergency Services and the cold storage barn. Baker and Haines said that has not been determined yet. An engineering report will determine that.
County Administrator Jack Searles said the proposal should be presented at a joint meeting of the County Operations/Public Safety Committee and the Public Works and Buildings and Grounds committees.
Those committees are expected to hold a joint meeting on the proposal on March 2.
