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Joint Eastside 911 center gets $2.5 million
By Ashley Bach
Seattle Times Eastside bureau
A new consolidated 911 dispatch center for the Eastside has received about $2.5 million, nearly half its startup costs, from the federal and state governments and is set to begin operations in July 2009.
The new center, called Northeast King County Regional Public Safety Communications Initiative (NORCOM), will bring the emergency calls of 14 cities and agencies under one roof for the first time.
About 60 Eastside city officials and public-safety officers gathered Tuesday at Bellevue City Hall to thank Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, for securing $1.7 million in federal money for the center. The state Legislature approved $750,000 last year.
Murray said she was "very proud" to earmark the money because NORCOM will improve public safety, bring Eastside agencies together and provide critical infrastructure for the growing region.
Bellevue handles fire calls for most of the Eastside, but cities could have more control under a regional system, officials say. Six different agencies handle Eastside police calls.
The new system will integrate the fire and police calls and records of all 14 agencies that have joined NORCOM. An officer in Kirkland, for instance, will be able to bring up reports from nearby cities to compare notes on a suspect.
"We're basically going to be able to be this one-stop shop," said Lee Soptich, chief of Eastside Fire & Rescue. "We see it as more opportunities to do better things."
In January, the new center hired its first executive director: Chris Fischer, who had recently retired after two decades as director of the Valley Communications 911 center in South King County.
The center will be located in a Kirkland fire station until it moves into Bellevue City Hall next spring. NORCOM will take 911 calls from City Hall for a few years but will eventually move into its own building, Fischer said.
The center is still seeking federal grants to pay for more of its $5.5 million startup cost. Any costs not covered by outside sources — and the center's annual operational costs — will be paid by NORCOM members.
The 14 members are Bellevue, Kirkland, Mercer Island, Snoqualmie, Medina, Clyde Hill, Eastside Fire & Rescue, Shoreline Fire, Northshore Fire, Bothell Fire, Woodinville Fire & Life Safety, Duvall Fire District 45, King and Kittitas Counties Fire District 51 serving Snoqualmie Pass, and Fire District 27 serving Fall City.
The police departments in Redmond, Issaquah and Bothell are not members, although Redmond will contract its fire calls through NORCOM.
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