MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. – Macomb County is opening what is being touted as the nation's first and largest communications and technical operations center of its kind.
COMTEC houses four county agencies under plus local police, fire and EMS dispatchers under one roof.
"COMTEC integrates Emergency Management, public safety, the Department of Roads as well as IT services under one roof," said Macomb County Executive Mark A. Hackel. "This one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art facility is a model of intergovernmental cooperation and today this vision has become a reality."
Slideshow: Macomb County's high-tech communications center
COMTEC features:
- A 20-by-50-foot video wall complete with 54 70-inch individual monitors/LED's and over 50 different display variations. Inputs on the video wall include: weather and GIS mapping, TV/cable stations, Road Department cameras, Michigan Department of Transportation cameras, siren alerting system, computer displays, and video conferencing. In the future, the center will also be able to accept and integrate with other systems and live feeds from mobile command vehicles, private businesses and schools.
- Eight traffic monitoring positions
- Fourteen current dispatch workstations, with the capacity to add an additional eleven
- New E 9-1-1 phone system
- New MCC7500 dispatch radio consoles
- New computer-aided dispatch and records management system available in late 2014
- 24 emergency operation center work stations
- Signal lab and traffic light monitoring system
- State-of-the-art IT data center
- Two emergency generators
- Two uninterruptable power supply systems
- Conference room and training center
The projected budget for the center is $13.5 million and was funded through a variety of funding sources which include approximately 75 percent in grant or outside funds and 25 percent from the county's capital budget. Those involved in creating COMTEC were Partners in Architecture, The Daily Company, and Motor City Electric. The scope of the project included:
Physical consolidation of four departments
- Emergency Management/Emergency Operations Center (5 employees)
- Information Technology/Data Center (40 employees)
- Road Department Traffic Operations Center (10 employees)
- Sheriff's Office dispatch (36 employees)
Departments share many features
- Provide emergency services
- Daily interaction/interdependent
- Updated equipment/technology
Create state-of-the-art facility
- Share technology and resources
- Provide efficient use of resources/maximization
- Eliminate duplication of services and resources
- Maximize services to the public
- Provide resiliency
- All county jurisdictions can and do benefit
Site information
- Current road department site – vacant space
- Over 25,000 square feet
- Multi-level
- Accommodate over 70 current staff
- Provides for future growth