NATCHEZ, Miss. – As the Adams County Board of Supervisors prepare to move the E911 operations center, Emergency Management Director Brad Bradford expressed concerns Monday that the building is not windstorm-proof.
Bradford told the board that a structure is needed to ensure it can withstand tornado-like winds and continue to operate as Natchez-Adams County’s emergency-dispatching facility. County board President Kevin Wilson noted Bradford’s warning is about “a worst-case scenario,” but he expressed qualms about being told this at “the 11th hour” after the board bought the structure on Feltus Street near Liberty Road last year and allocated funds to get it equipped and ready for occupancy.
“This is all we have. I don’t know what else we can do,” Wilson said.
While supervisors indicated Monday there’s been a lack of communications concerning the building, Bradford said he’s warned them before that it’s vulnerable to strong winds.
County and city officials have been trying for years to move the emergency-call operations they jointly fund from the Adams County jail’s basement. While the building on State and Wall streets is storm-proof, it’s been plagued for years by various structural defects that have included raw sewage occasionally seeping from the county jail upstairs down into the E911 center.
“We’ve been trying to get them out of that dungeon for years,” Wilson said.
The county Board of Supervisors last year bought the new building for $120,000 to house Natchez-Adams County’s E911 operators. It’s budgeting $500,000 or more to equip it. The city also pays a share.
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