County's 911 Call Center Plans Could be Scrapped

Following at least five years in Will County, the plans could be scrapped.

According to the Joliet Herald-News, the Emergency Telephone System Board informally agreed to drop the plans at a meeting earlier this month. But when the board meets at 9 a.m. today in the Will County Office Building, Mokena Village Trustee Don Labriola hopes they'll take an official vote to end plans.

Will County 911, which is funded through 75-cent monthly phone surcharges paid by county residents, has already sunk about $1 million into studies and designs on the proposed site for the call center, about 20 acres of land from the Illinois Department of Corrections on Caton Farm Road in Joliet.

The 911 Administration doesn't have authority to purchase land under state law, so it would need Will County to buy the 20 acres. The plans were dropped because the county "is no longer interested in partnering on the project," ETSB Chairwoman Chairwoman Julie Ponce-Doyle told the Herald-News.

The plans for the call center involved a two-story, disaster-proof building that could house the ETS Board and administrative staff, the Western Will County Dispatch Center, the Will County Sheriff's Dispatch Center, the County Coroner's office, the County Emergency Operations Center and the Emergency Management Agency.

In a previous interview, ETS board member Tom Weigel, a New Lenox resident who also sits on the Will County Board, said the 911 Administration should try to move into an existing location if it needs more space.

"I think it could be scaled back," Weigel said of both the size and cost. "I don't think we need 20 acres for a call center."