The Campbell County Fiscal Court is purchasing two parcels of land in Alexandria for its new public safety complex.
After meeting in a closed session on Sept. 3, the fiscal court voted in a regular session to purchase the property at 1114 Racetrack Road in Alexandria for the appraised value of $1,333,333. The new safety complex will house the Campbell County Police Department, the Campbell County Office of Emergency Management, the Campbell County Consolidated Dispatch Center, and the Campbell County Coroners’ Office.
“It’s time for a new facility for these functions, and we’ve been working with architects on the design, been searching for properties,” said Campbell County Administrator Matt Elberfeld. “This property meets our acreage and location requirements and is being purchased at appraised value.”
The Campbell County Police Department and the Campbell County Office of Emergency Management are both currently located in an out-of-date building, according to the county, on Constable Drive in Alexandria.
“This is not a small endeavor on the part of the fiscal court to commit to such a building, property, facility, to do what is proposed here,” said Campbell County Police Chief Craig Sorrell. “We’ve gotten a long, long life out of the building we have. I’ve diced it up everywhere imaginable to squeeze us in over the years.”
The county currently rents space from a funeral home in Erlanger for body storage and for performing sampling for the Campbell County Coroner’s Office. The new location will provide them with a purpose-built design space, and the county will no longer have to pay rent.
The Campbell County Consolidated Dispatch Center answers and processes emergency 911 and non-emergency calls and dispatches or notifies first responders. It is currently in the basement of the Newport City Building at 998 Monmouth St. The Newport Board of Commissioners unanimously passed a resolution on June 16 allowing the dispatch center to relocate to the new facility.
“Time goes on and standards change, right? So, the building we have is not really suitable any longer for best practices,” said Campbell County Judge Executive Steve Pendery.
The Campbell County Consolidated Dispatch Board consists of seven members representing the Campbell County Fiscal Court, the city of Fort Thomas, and the city of Newport. In 2002, those entities combined their individual dispatch centers. Fort Thomas City Council and Campbell County Fiscal Court also had to approve the move.
The same board will still operate the dispatch center; the fiscal court is not taking anything over.
Elberfeld said that having four different functions in one facility will provide public safety benefits and some cost savings for taxpayers. There will be shared conference rooms, shared hallways, and the Emergency Operations Center can be used by emergency management, but also the police departments for training.