by Andrew Miller
Thisweek Newspapers

Public safety was at the fore of county planning in 2005. The new 264-bed jail and law enforcement center opened in Shakopee in December, and last fall county officials launched a campaign to open a regional public safety training facility.

In 2006, public safety will remain a priority -- the Scott County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 28 approved a list of stated objectives for the calendar year 2006 which includes two high profile public safety projects.

Securing funding for the public safety training facility is one of the board's stated goals for 2006, another is to move ahead with implementing the 800 megahertz radio system.
800 megahertz

This year the county is seeking $2 million in state bonding assistance for the county's $9.75-million conversion to an 800 megahertz radio system for public safety workers.

The groundwork for the project was laid when the new jail and law enforcement center was built -- radio consoles in the 911-dispatch center were designed to accommodate 800 megahertz.

The intent of the switch to 800 megahertz is to allow greater collaboration between public safety departments region-wide.

Commissioner Bob Vogel, of New Market, compared the transition to 800 megahertz as like moving from CB radios to a cell phone network. Unlike the independent radio network the county currently uses, 800 megahertz will make the county a partner in a shared regional system.

On Tuesday, the county board met with Jeff Nelson, a consultant from PSC Alliance Inc. in Minneapolis, who gave a timeline of how the switch to 800 megahertz is expected to unfold.

This year equipment for the project will be acquired and construction of any towers needed for the 800 megahertz system will begin.

Construction is expected to be completed in 2007. And if all goes according to plan, the system will be fully operational by late 2007 or early 2008.
Training facility

The campaign to secure funding for the proposed regional public safety training facility is in the lobbying stage.

Later this month members of SCALE, the Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency, will host the Minnesota House Capital Investment Committee and the House Public Safety Committee at the proposed site for the facility in Sand Creek Township two miles northeast of Jordan.

In Sept. 2005, SCALE hosted the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee to lobby for funding and give committee members a tour of the proposed site.

The facility will be able to accommodate training for police, fire, and public works employees simultaneously. Some of the training options will include firing ranges, live burn towers, hazardous materials training and canine training.

One selling point of the training center is that it will likely be available to all public safety departments throughout the state, SCALE officials say.

Estimated cost of the project is $9.9 million. This includes cost of the site ($1.5 million), technology costs ($750,000) and design and construction costs ($7.7 million).

Scott County is contributing to the site, currently home to the Scott County Jail Annex, to the project. SCALE has requested $4.2 million from the state.
Other goals

Some other goals for 2006 listed by the county board include:

ï the creation of a public access TV program

ï development of an online recruiting and staffing system

ï quarterly reports on the impact of the methamphetamine ordinance adopted by the county board in December; which requires the owner of a meth lab site to have the property cleaned within 10 days

ï completion of highway projects on County Roads 21, 2, and 64

ï pursuing service-sharing and greater collaboration with Dakota County

Andrew Miller is at savage.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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