County Emergency Services Building Dedicated
FLEMINGTON – The sun was out and there were smiles all around as Clinton County today dedicated its newly renovated Department of Emergency Services building.
There were accolades from many for participants in the $2.5 million dollar project which came in $300,000 under budget.
DES director Kevin Fanning lauded the role of Clinton County Commissioner Jeff Snyder, calling Snyder the person who “drove the bus” on the project which took a portion of the old Flemington School and turned it into a state of the art emergency communications center.
Fanning said it had been a goal to find a location for or build a new communication center for 15 years. But the project did not move ahead until several years ago after Snyder and fellow commissioner Pete Smeltz took office.
Smeltz said that effort began in January of 2012 when Snyder came to him and fellow commissioner Joel Long and said the county needed a new 911 center. Talks were held with the Keystone Central School District which ultimately sold the old school to the county for $1, saving the county the expense of starting from scratch with new construction.
School board president Jack Peters, noting that as a life-long “Red Eye,” he attended the old Flemington School 65 years ago, said he was “proud my original school” now serves as the 911 center.
Until late last year the Emergency Services office and its 911 center operated in outdated quarters in the basement of the Susque-View Home on Cree Drive. Renovation of the new site followed in 2013.
The building also houses the county Veterans Affairs office and a new office for the Clinton County Volunteer Fire Chiefs Association and the Volunteer Firemen’s Association.
