From a City of Piedmont press release on Jan. 3, 2025:
Learn about the city’s work to upgrade the 9-1-1 emergency dispatch center by tuning in to a presentation at Monday’s City Council meeting. Public Works Director Daniel Gonzales and Police Chief Jeremy Bowers will provide an update on the Dispatch Center renovation project, a significant investment in enhancing Piedmont’s public safety and emergency response capabilities.
Dispatch Center Relocation Project Update: City Council meeting
Monday, Jan. 6, 6:00 p.m.
Agenda | Staff Report
Zoom: https://piedmont-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/82500567382
The project, which started in June 2024, relocates the dispatch center into the space that formerly served jointly as the City’s Emergency Operations Center and the Police Department’s conference and interview room.
Dispatch functions as the nerve center for the Piedmont community’s access to public safety services, fielding over 13,000 calls annually for the police and fire departments. The former space was severely undersized, unable to accommodate modern technologies, and located in an area that has not been seismically retrofitted, posing risk to continued operations in a catastrophic event.
Additionally, the project includes infrastructure upgrades that benefit the entire police department, including a secure and independent electrical system and a backup generator that can power the entire building.
The workload for dispatch staff has increased significantly over the last decade and will continue to trend upward with the implementation of next generation 9-1-1 capabilities. Concurrent with the physical space improvements, the city recently augmented dispatch staffing for the first time since 1978. Two new dispatcher positions were added in the last year, a staffing increase made possible by the March 2024 passage of Measure F.
Renovation of the 9-1-1 dispatch center was identified by the City Council as the highest and best use for American Rescue Plan Act funding in October 2021. Design work for the relocated dispatch center began in 2022, and the City Council award a $1.8 million construction contract for the project in March of 2023. Construction began in June, and the project is now roughly 50% complete.
