Thursday morning local media was given a tour of the new $38.5 million Lee County Public Safety Center by Public Safety Chief of Staff Dominick Boyd. A 10AM ribbon cutting was followed by tours given to members of the community.
The new state-of-the-art 37,000 square foot facility only took a year and a half to build and will consolidate Public Safety Administration, Emergency Medical Services, and a new Emergency Communications Center, with space for Public Safety’s Division of Emergency Communications, Lee County Sheriff’s Office Communications and the Lee County Department of Transportation’s Traffic Operations Center.
The facility includes areas off the main floor and special rooms to decompress, if they choose after receiving and working the caller through a tough 911 call.
During “blue-sky” operations about 70-100 people will work in the facility, some 24 hours a day. In full storm activation, also known as “grey-sky” operations, another 150 people can be called in to help push out storm information to Lee County residents. There is also a place for a liaison to all 6 Lee County Municipalities so information can be fed back to elected officials in Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Cape Coral, Estero, Bonita and Fort Myers.
The building is completely hurricane proof and equipped to feed and house the staff for up to one week without ever leaving the structure. There’s an upgraded commercial kitchen, locker rooms with showers and a large training room that can be converted to sleep space. The training room also includes a podcast studio with state-of-the art podcast equipment.
The expansion was being planned before Hurricane Ian made landfall in 2022. The Lee County Board of Commissioners approved a contract with an architectural firm in June 2019. This project was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act and State Appropriation Funds with support from Lee County’s legislative delegation.