CLAY, W.Va. — The Clay County 911 center is about to undergo a major upgrade. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito announced this week she’s procured more than $224 Million in Congressionally directed spending for public safety projects in West Virginia.
The top award is a $4.6 Million allocation to the Clay County Commission to relocate the existing 911 center and increase connectivity to nearby volunteer fire departments.
“We have a little kitchen, a hallway, and the dispatch room. That’s all we have here, it is small and they stuck us in here because it was an empty building,” said J.D. Johnson Director of the Clay County 911.
The facilities are cramped and offer very little room for training, team building, or operational planning. The facility is now also shared with offices of the Clay County Magistrate Court and the Sheriff’s Department. The building was wiped out in the 2016 flood and Johnson said they’ve never really fully recovered from the loss.
“It really hit this place hard. I wasn’t working here at the time, but they had to evacuate the 911 center. It’s just time for an upgrade,” he added.
The plan is to construct a new 911 building on a nearby ridgetop away from downtown, away from the river, and in an area where their radio equipment will more easily communicate with the various agencies they dispatch across the county. The location will also benefit radio communications with neighboring counties as well in cooperative emergency services operations.
“We do pretty well with all of our neighboring counties, but yes, being up on top of the mountain is really going to help us,” Johnson said.
Johnson said while plans aren’t completely set in stone, they intend to start from the ground up and build a facility which will meet all of their current needs and projected future needs, but done within budget.
“We’re getting a whole new building, in a new location, with all the modern technology,” he said.