Project stakeholders and community leaders gathered Tuesday, Aug. 25, to break ground on the expansion of the Warren County Emergency Communications Center, an effort long in the making.
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Project stakeholders and community leaders gathered Tuesday, Aug. 25, to break ground on the expansion of the Warren County Emergency Communications Center, an effort long in the making.
“Our current center was built in 1995 and it has served Warren County well for more than 30 years, but our community has grown, our call volume has grown, technology has changed dramatically, and quite simply, we’ve run out of room,” 911 Dispatch Center Administrator Amy Leach said at the groundbreaking ceremony.
“In fact, we’ve reached the point where nearly every closet in this building has become an office.”
Katie Aholt, project manager with Navigate Building Solutions, noted that the expansion will more than double the square footage of the 911 Center, located at 209 Highway U, from around 5,000 square feet currently to over 10,000 when completed.
“I’ve seen first-hand the planning, partnership and dedication from the project team and the community, which has led us to today,” said Aholt, who has been involved in the project since March 2024.
“Over the next several months, you’ll see this site transform and the vision will start to take shape. Phase one, the new addition, is anticipated to complete in August of 2027, about a year from now, and phase two renovations will complete in the spring of 2028.”
The 911 Center expansion, expected to cost roughly $7.5 million, is one of the projects funded through a quarter-cent sales tax increase approved by Warren County voters in the April 2025 election.
At the groundbreaking, however, Leach credited Warrenton Mayor Eric Schleuter with being “very instrumental in bringing us together with Crusoe” — developer of Warrenton’s new data center — “who will help us pay this building off early, and that is monumental for this community.”
Leach added that “we hope to be able to push that sales tax back when that’s done, that’s our goal.”
Schleuter, another speaker at the groundbreaking, also noted the collaboration with Crusoe.
“Even though it’s not a great thing on Facebook or any other social media that we’ve encountered, I can tell you what they’re doing for the backbone of our community. They’ve stepped in for every step of the way that we’ve wanted to do something, including with this building, and I appreciate that,” Schleuter said.
Schleuter added that 911 dispatchers do not get enough credit for the job they do assisting first responders.
“And it’s not just that, they do a lot for the citizens as far as keeping them calm when they’re on the phone, taking care of situations when they’re on the radio,” he said.
Other speakers at the groundbreaking included Matt Eskew, chairman of the Warren County Emergency Communications Center Board.
“This is an exciting time for Warren County. This represents much more than just some square footage being added. This is an investment in our 911 Center. This is an investment in our community,” he said.
Eskew thanked the citizens of Warren County for approving the quarter-cent sales tax increase in 2025.
“We don’t take that lightly,” he said. “Thank you for your support. Thank you for allowing us to push forward with this project.”
Leach thanked various stakeholders and contractors involved in the project, but also the 911 Center staff.
“They’re about to experience this project in a way the rest of us probably won’t — from the inside. There will be construction crews, equipment, dust, hopefully not snakes, temporary changes and I’m sure plenty of noise. Throughout all this, our dispatch center will remain open 24 hours and day, seven days a week. Our team will continue answering calls and dispatching responders while construction happens around us,” she said.
“I know there will be some challenging days ahead, and I want them to know how much I appreciate their patience, their flexibility, and their commitment to serving our community throughout this project. Thirty years ago this facility was built by people who were looking ahead to what Warren County would need from its dispatch center. Today we have the opportunity and the responsibility to do that again.”
