Bentonville Council OKs funds for police equipment, fire station

Bentonville police chief Jon Simpson is shown in this 2016 file photo.
Bentonville police chief Jon Simpson is shown in this 2016 file photo.

BENTONVILLE -- The Police Department is ready to buy nearly $500,000 worth of equipment for its new emergency dispatch center.

The two-story, 22,000-square-foot public safety communications center is under construction at the southeast corner of the Police Station's lot at 908 S.E. 14th St.

Council action

Bentonville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:

• Buying eight Lakeside Dual Magna Rotors for the oxidation ditches at the wastewater treatment facility for $1.1 million.

• Hiring Johnson Controls for maintenance services at the municipal works facility for $39,967 and for maintenance at the Community Center for $38,151.

• Buying and installing equipment for eight patrol vehicles for the Police Department.

• Reclassing one first class power line electrician to an electric crew leader and one administrative assistant II in the Planning Department to a planning technician.

• Renting two Altec bucket trucks and an Altec digger derrick from Global Rental Co. for $9,700 per month.

Source: Staff report

It will serve as a dispatch center, an emergency operations center, provide space for the Criminal Investigation Division and include a multi-use space that could be used for vehicle storage and training.

The City Council unanimously approved Tuesday spending $234,000 for the center's audio and visual system and $190,000 for eight dispatch consoles.

The council agreed to waive the bidding process for both packages. There was no discussion during the meeting about the equipment.

Keystone Digital of Ozark, Mo., will supply the audio and visual equipment. The company worked with the facility's architect, WER Architects, and has emergency dispatch center audio and visual experience, Police Chief Jon Simpson wrote to council members in a memo.

Russ Bassett of Whittier, Calif., will supply the dispatch consoles.

"Console furniture is a highly specialized product and vital equipment to the dynamics of emergency dispatching," Simpson wrote.

Officials anticipate the new system to open in August. The $9.5 million project will be paid with for with bond money, money set aside and impact fees, according to Gene Page, public information officer.

Consoles integrate all the monitors, computers, peripheral equipment and cabling connections for the 911 phone system, radio console system, CAD systems as well as other related technology, Simpson explained.

The new consoles will have an ergonomic interface, which the current consoles don't have, he added.

City officials have said the center will give the Police Department much-needed space. The department opened in its current building in 1995 with 50 employees, expanded in 2008 to make room for the Criminal Investigation Division, and now has more than 100 employees.

The council also agreed to set a maximum price of $2.2 million to build Fire Station No. 7.

Clinard Construction is the construction manager on the project. The architectural fees, civil engineering fees, preconstruction fees and site work were paid for and completed last year, according to Brent Boydston, fire chief.

The city's seventh fire station will be built on 2.3 acres on Southwest Prime Avenue. It will be about 4 miles southwest of Station No. 6 at 3312 S.W. I St.

The station is needed for quicker response times, to meet the increase in calls for services and help keep the city's Insurance Service Office rating low, Fire Department officials have said.

The rating is the evaluation of the distribution of fire stations in the community as part of its Public Protection Classification program. Ratings under the program help determine home insurance rates. The lower the number, the better the rating.

Construction of the station is expected to be completed in November. The station will operate with 12 firefighters, Kevin Boydston, deputy chief, said after the meeting.

NW News on 01/23/2019

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