5 August 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Across the country, 82% of 911 call centers are understaffed. Here in Sedgwick County, the emergency communications department has experienced similar issues.
The Sedgwick County 911 Call Center has experienced a time when staffing dipped below 65% capacity. A new $430,000 renovation started in April to address the concern.
The project is now complete and its staff will move into the updated facility as soon as next week.
The updates include knocking down walls to create more space for additional new hires. Additionally, updates to flooring and other parts of the building were put into place to make the staff feel more comfortable.
“Besides what is happening inside that building, we’re also fencing the lot out back, in order to make it more secure for our employees, because they come and go at all hours of the day and night,” said Sedgwick County Commissioner David Dennis.
The updates will allow for a potential staff that is nearly double what it is now.
“We expanded our number of workstations by about 20 positions. This is setting up that groundwork to add more staff later on, so that we can first of all separate call taking and dispatching,” said Director of Emergency Communications for Sedgwick County.
The staff was originally between 20 and 25 people. It can now be 40 to 45.