Anderson, Tenn., Dispatchers Still Enjoy Office Upgrade
By Bob Fowler, Knoxville News-Sentinel
Original publication date: April 14, 2011
Clinton, Tenn — Eleven years ago, emergency dispatchers for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department worked in a room the size of a walk-in closet on the courthouse’s third floor.
“That room was barely big enough for one person,” recalls Mark Lucas, chairman of the county’s Emergency Communications District board of directors.
Ambulance dispatchers had it worse, said Lucas, who is also the Sheriff’s Department’s chief deputy.
An on-duty dispatcher worked a shift from a hallway counter in the main ambulance station, he said.
Officials on Wednesday – the middle of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week – celebrated the 10-year anniversary of a huge change in Anderson County dispatching operations.
The Carl E. McMillan Emergency Communications and Operations Center is now in the county-owned Robert L. Jolley Building next to the courthouse. It opened March 27, 2001.
Seated in an oval-shaped work area within a secured room, dispatchers track five computer monitors for radio communications, crime information, computer-aided dispatch and county road maps.
They handle more than 300,000 calls a year, from ambulance runs to burglary reports, from county fires to car crashes.
Equipment for the service, which includes all of Anderson County outside Oak Ridge, is funded by a 65-cent a month residential landline phone charge.
That fee has remained unchanged since the Emergency Community District was approved by referendum in 1990, Lucas said.
Emergency calls increased substantially that decade, he said, prompting studies that led to the relocation of centralized dispatching operations into the Jolley Building.
The current setup enables quick coordination of responses to emergencies where numerous agencies are needed, he said.
About the Author
Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached at 865-481-3625 or [email protected].
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