Hundreds of citizens, officials and first responders gathered Monday, Sept. 15 for a moment in Erath County history – the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Joint Dispatch Center.
A major renovation/construction project is underway at the former tax office in Stephenville to convert the building into the new joint dispatch/Emergency Operations Center.
When up and running, the joint dispatch center will dispatch for all emergency services in the county including Dublin PD, Stephenville PD, Tarleton PD, Erath County Sheriff’s Office, county EMS and all fire departments.
Board for Joint Dispatch Center is comprised of Stephenville Police Chief Dan Harris, Erath County Sheriff Matt Coates, EMS Director Cary Jackson, Stephenville Fire Chief Robert Isbell and Erath County Volunteer Firefighters Association President Dallas Sims.
“They have worked hours and hours, along with others, to ensure we got to this point. We took an idea, the board was formed and here we sit today,” Erath County Judge Brandon Huckabee said.
He thanked the Erath County Commissioners Court and the Stephenville city council for their commitment to the project, along with Joint Dispatch Director Ashley Anderson.
Huckabee said a special thanks to McKinstry who is over the project.
“They have been tremendous to work with, they’ve listened to what we needed, and I think we are going to end up with a building that everyone can be proud of,” he said.
Some highlights of the renovated/expanded facility will include a covered, lighted walkway from the parking lot into the secured building, high windows to allow light into the building, an Emergency Operations Center and a large dispatch space. The facility will also have a drive thru, pass through for officers to be able to receive and give paperwork from their vehicles without leaving prisoners unattended.
The dispatch room will have space for up to eight dispatchers, a dedicated office space for the dispatch manager, a shift supervisor office located next to joint dispatch, a dedicated restroom, a quiet room, a locker room and storage space for warrants, records and 911.
Inside the emergency operations center there is an EOC command center, two breakout offices, a tactical briefing room, a policy conference room, four individual restrooms, workstations and additional offices and security.
The expansion/construction budget is $3.6 million with the amount being split between the county and Stephenville.
The county judge also offered North Central Texas Council of Governments 911 a huge thanks for their help with new radio towers essentially saving the county approximately $1 million.
Huckabee also issued his thanks to State Representative Shelby Slawson who was present at the ceremony.
“She was here at one of the very first meetings when we showed the commitment, collaboration, the cooperation we had between our teams. We want to ensure we have better communications, better response times, that we are better serving the citizens of Erath County and her district, and she was a big help with that,” Huckabee said.
Harris, on behalf of the board, thanked everyone for coming.
“I love you for doing this, because as we go live, as soon as we can in here, over 60,000 times a year someone will call and say, ‘I need help.’ This will make our Erath County citizens safer, this will make our visitors safer, but the nearest and dearest thing to my heart is the men and women, many of whom are standing here today. When they say ‘I love you’ and walk out that door … it will make them safer, so they can respond and come home safely,” Harris said.
Emergency Services Coordinator Chris Brooks said that the building is not simply a building, but a way to get faster response times to aid citizens.
“This dispatch center represents collaboration, vision and commitment to service. Let us always remember passion drives performance, and performance is measured by progress. This is progress and something we have wanted for a long time,” he said. “It’s passion that every first responder, every dispatcher, every partner that will make this center not just a building but a lifeline for our citizens.”
Construction on the project is now underway and the new center is expected to be up and running by June 2026.