Inside the new 9,000sq.ft. Outagamie County Communications Center, set to open by the end of 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Outagamie County is preparing to open a new state-of-the-art communications center later this year. But, the county is also looking for staff to fill it too.
Outagamie County is just months away from opening it’s new 9,000+ sq. ft. communications center. The new facility will be a major upgrade from where dispatchers work now.
According to Capt. Nathan Borman with the sheriff’s office, “The space they’re currently in is outdated. It’s really small. It’s dark. It’s in a basement.”
The $5.7 million project has been years in the making — the county board working with the Sheriff’s Office to help fund the facility.
Once completed it will house more than a dozen work stations and provide a more comfortable atmosphere for dispatchers.
Borman said, “It has much nicer facilities within it. We have a training room within it. It offers more space so the dispatchers are a little bit more spread out. Really, it’s built in a way that as dispatch grows over the coming years the building is already there for it.”
As the lifeline between those in distress and first responders, the new center will allow dispatchers to serve the community better.
“In a large scale incident, even if it’s just weather. Right now we can only bring in so many dispatchers and when our community is in need, our people really step up and offer to come in but we only have so many desks for people to work at, so many phones that they can answer,’ added director of communications, Kati Stahmann.
As it prepares to open the new communications center, Outagamie County is also looking to fill vacant positions.
Right now, Outagamie County is down more than 30% of its staff in the communications center, leading to overtime and long shifts for already dedicated employees.
The county is hoping the new center will help to attract applicants looking for a rewarding career opportunity.
“Really you just need to be a good communicator, somebody who can think quick on their feet, somebody who can multitask. You have to be able to handle radio traffic coming in, calls coming in and work a computer,” said Borman.
The starting salary for a dispatcher in Outagamie County is more than $25/hour and you only need a high school diploma to apply.
The county is looking forward to bringing new staff on, in its new center as it looks to the future.
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