MCLEAN CO, KY (WFIE) -
Thanks to a $145,000 grant, the McLean County Dispatch Center is about to get a major make-over and it's about time, this will be the first major update for the center since 1997.
Kathy Taylor has been a dispatcher at the McLean County Center for 20 years.
Just about as long as most of this equipment.
"I can't say how much it means for us to be able to upgrade at this time," said Taylor. "We're gonna upgrade our phones, we're gonna upgrade possibly our radios."
They'll be moving from the current cramped room and they'll also get some much needed software upgrades.
Kathy says the new software will be the equivalent of going from a Windows 98' system to a Windows 08'.
"This is huge, quite frankly our old dispatch center was on its last leg," said Kelly Thurman, Judge-Executive. "Short of this grant we were going to be forced to look at borrowing some funds. "
As Thurman points out the dispatch center is crucial.
"It is the hub of all the operations that this county provides," said Thurman. "Everything from medical emergency runs, to law enforcement runs, everything originates from our dispatch center here in McClean County."
Best of all, the upgraded equipment will allow them to keep up with technology.
"We're having some new things come in that we're being mandated to implement on our new equipment, that we just quite frankly weren't financially able to do unless we got this grant," said Thurman.
Thurman says the county is getting bids right now, he says the renovation should be complete by the fall, perhaps even earlier.
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