Jefferson County Eyes New Emergency Managment Facility as Upgrades Continue

BROOKVILLE, Pa. (EYT) — Jefferson County’s Emergency Management Center will be getting new upgrades and possibly a new building. Tuesday 911 Director Chris Clark addressed the Jefferson County Commissioners during the proclamation of National Public Safety Telecommunications Week in the county. Article by Randy Bartley Last week U. S. Rep. Glenn Thompson announced that the county will receive a $462,416 federal grant to establish a new 911 and EMA center. “In a nutshell that is for engineering costs,” said Clark. “That is basically step number one.” Clark said the Pine Creek Elementary School on Route 322 in PineCreek Township has been discussed as an option for a new EMA center. “It would babe a nice option,” he said.”The county has not determined which option to pursue for a permanent solution.” The Brookville Area School District is examining the option of adding a wing to the existing Hickory Grove Elementary School and closing the Pine Creek school. The school district would then examine options for the Pine Creek School. The current EMA building is located in Pine Creek Township next to Interstate 80 on Service Center Road. “We are always looking at alternate sites,” said Commissioner Scott North. Clark said the county would be looking for a larger operations area. “Right now we are so constrained in the space now that we are operating on three different levels. It is difficult to support one another. People are either running up and down the stairs or tied up on the phone. It complicates things. Right now our servers and CAD equipment is split up between three rooms.Each one of those rooms has to have its own separate air conditioning and extra cabling just to make everything interconnected. We have a very small meeting area. If we have to open the Emergency Operations Center it makes it very difficult to have separation to be together,”he said. EMA Director Tracy Zents said that all of the centers across the state are tied together through the Emergency Services Internet system that runs along Route 28 and Route 322 in Jefferson County. He said these are the to paths for redundancy. “We would like to stay on those two corridors,” said Zents. “If we build elsewhere the cost to bring that ESI net service to a new facility would be greater,” he said. “Those two routes would be our best bet if we can make it work.” Clark said that by 2029 the county’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) will be merged with the 10 county regional Northern Tier association. Clark said there would be very little change on the county’s end but in the “server environment” will change. He said with the new system whenever Jefferson County is unable to respond to a call that call will be answered by another county in the system. Clark said the county will save a minimum of $50,000 per year in maintenance costs. “At the end of the day it will be huge win for the county,” he said. Chris Clark In addition there will be upgrades to the radio system. Clark said upgrades had been taking placer the past several years starting with the radio consoles used at the dispatch center and to integrate that with units outside the EMA building at a cost of about $250,000. He said the unit was about 21 years old. Step two was a new tower site near Punxsutawney. The Snyder Hill tower was an $862,000 project. He said that was made possible by local share funds. “That was a huge win,” he said. “The county could not have been able to afford it without those funds. At the end of the day we will have a new radio system.” In the proclamation, the commissioners commended the dispatchers stating that their services are required at any time in emergencies that require police, fire or emergency medical services. “Today we recognize our department staff who answer the call every day in Jefferson County,” said Zents. “These dedicated individuals are the calm, steady voice, that guides us through emergencies and critical moments when seconds count. They gather the critical information, provide life saving instructions regarding instructions and dispatch help when seconds matter most. They are the first link in an emergency response. They are there before you hear any sirens during some of the most difficult moments of their lives. Generally these folks do not get the recognition as part of an emergency but they are the first ones to interact with the community. They save lives and make a difference.” He said the 911 dispatchers and the EMA personnel are are a team. “I am truly grateful for my staff and their dedication to saving lives,” said Zents. “The people of this county are truly fortunate to have the quality of people who are on the other side of that (telephone) line to have a calm voice guiding you through what you need to get the right assets to you,” said North. The next meeting of the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners will be held on Tuesday April 28 at 10:30 in Jefferson Place, Main Street, Brookville. The post Jefferson County Eyes New Emergency Managment Facility as Upgrades Continue appeared first on exploreJefferson . Read the full story here: https://www.explorejeffersonpa.com/local/2026/04/16/jefferson-county-eyes-new-emergency-managment-facility-as-upgrades-continue-174807/