By Eric Curl
March 20, 2024 – While substantial funding is still needed for the project, Chatham County is pressing ahead to build a new multi-agency public safety complex.
The county recently requested bids to construct the facility, about nine months after submitting a $20 million grant application to the US Department of defense for the project. Unfortunately, the application was unsuccessful for the second year in a row and the county is now looking at ways to reduce costs and come up with alternative sources of funding, according to a county spokesperson on Wednesday.
When the grant application was submitted, the county had $53 million set aside for the project from Special Local Option Sales Tax revenue and capital improvement project funds, but the project’s estimated costs had grown to more than $95 million.
Planned for a site at 654 Gulfstream Road, near the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport, the 2-story, 83,000-square-foot facility is expected to consist of classrooms, office and administration spaces, a dispatch call center, sleeping units, sally port, bay and dock areas. Bids for the construction contract are due to the county by April 19.
Chatham and the city of Savannah agreed in 2017 to transfer the operation and control of the 911 center from the city, with the goal of improving communications across the county. However, the transfer has not been without challenges. Recently, thousands of addresses had to be updated after they were not correctly linked to the mapping software as part of emergency services’ $6 million dispatch upgrade last fall, as the The Current recently reported. In addition, there were about 25,000 more abandoned 911 emergency calls in 2023 than in the previous two years, despite the total number of 911 calls remaining about the same, according to reporting by the Savannah Morning News. And employees reported in a December workplace survey that ancient equipment, unresponsive leadership and rigid bureaucracies have made the 911 Center a toxic workplace, according to additional reporting by The Current.
Meanwhile, the county may be taking control of even more public safety responsibilities. Last August, county commissioners approved a resolution to establish a county fire department and to transition fire services from Chatham Emergency Services, which has been providing fire service protection for most unincorporated residents for decades, as previously reported. Following the vote, the county entered into a contract with with a Washington, DC-based consulting agency to provide a comprehensive operations data analysis report and plan for more efficient and effective county fire/EMS services. That report’s findings and recommendations are expected to be provided by June, according to the contract.
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