WENATCHEE — RiverCom 911 has its sights to settle in the Confluence Technology Center next year, after its administrative board on Wednesday approved negotiating a lease agreement with the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority.
RiverCom, the regional emergency dispatch center, needs to have a larger building for its slowly increasing staff numbers and technology systems, according to Lowell Porter, RiverCom executive director, who made a quick decision this week on its future.
Porter said he and his team were preparing to go into the RiverCom administrative board meeting with a side-by-side analysis for two locations in Douglas County and give a recommendation for which one to purchase.
But a last-minute offer from the port changed his recommendations. Porter said last week a Wenatchee World story prompted more requests to him from property owners who were interested in housing RiverCom 911.
One of those inquirers was from the port, offering to lease 20,000 square feet of space in the Confluence Technology Center for a negotiated price. More space could be added as some tenants are expected to leave, Porter said. Rivercom currently has 8,400 square feet on the third floor of the Wenatchee Police Department.
Porter said negotiations just began, but since the center plans to lease a very large space long-term, there was room to negotiate down the price.
“This just flew out of the sky,” said Porter. “It was compelling.”
He said his team looked for buildings in the valley that could support the technological needs and room to expand over the years before looking into property to build a new building.
Porter said that building a new facility, along with purchasing the property, would have cost around $15.8 million and moving wouldn’t be until late 2025 or early 2026.
Porter said around $4.6 million is needed for technological upgrades and remodeling to move into the CTC in about 8-11 months.
To pay for the new dispatch center, Porter said RiverCom has just over $10 million in capital reserves. As a multi-jurisdictional organization, RiverCom receives its funds from Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan and Douglas counties.
“We can do this whole thing and be our own bank,” he said.
Porter said if the board went forward with one of the two Douglas County properties, a bond would be needed.
“We were going to have to bond,” Porter said. “We were going to have to figure out how to get the two cities and the two counties to work together to figure out that finance part.”
Porter said he and the port are looking at a 20-year lease, with a renewal option.
“People are going to say, ‘Lowell, you will still have a lease payment,’” he said.
But Porter said the lease payments would not be as expensive as purchasing land and building a new facility. And there would be no debt.
Porter said the building passed three main criteria for the new dispatch center:
A line-of-sight study was performed, meaning that the frequencies of RiverCom’s radio systems can connect to the location in a straight line.
A noise floor measurement that calculates interference from external frequencies and sounds. Porter said the CTC has a better score than the current location at the Wenatchee Police Department.
Power infrastructure. Porter said RiverCom needs a lot of power to function all of its technology systems. He said the CTC being a former data center gives it adequate power infrastructure.
“The CTC meets and exceeds all of our needs,” Porter said. “Within a year, RiverCom will be in a brand new state-of-the-art public safety answering point.”
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