Justice of the Peace Mike Dumas gave a brief update on the county's centralized 911 dispatch facility during a regular meeting of the Quorum Court on Thursday.
"Our construction manager, Ideal Construction Company, is taking bids and will be opening bids at the end of the month, start of November," Dumas said. "I'm hoping the construction will begin shortly thereafter."
Last July, JPs agreed to purchase the old Warner Brown hospital building and use the second-floor of the red brick portion of the facility to house a centralized 911 dispatch facility that would direct calls for both the Union County Sheriff's Office and El Dorado Police Department.
CADM Architecture is the new facility's designer, and Ideal Construction was selected in June to act as construction manager for the project. Dumas said Ideal would work with CADM's Blake Dunn to develop bid packages, and once bids are in, bring them back to the Quorum Court for review.
On Thursday, Dumas said the current estimated cost for the new dispatch facility is $4.7 million. He previously estimated that the project would cost closer to $3.5 million.
"That is my estimate. When the bids come in (at the) first of the month, (that) could be higher or lower," he said in a follow-up email Thursday afternoon. "The $3.5 (million) figure did not include equipment and after studying the needs ... That is why the number is higher."
The dispatch facility's construction will be funded by the county, Dumas said.
The county, meanwhile, has started rehabbing a few areas of the building that needed attention.
"They have performed work on the underground drainage of the building," Dumas said. "This work was beyond the dispatch center. Some overall work was needed for the future of the building."
Dumas said the bid packages Ideal receives will be presented to the Quorum Court during their next regular meeting on Nov. 16.
"According to the architect, because of the holidays, he does not expect work to begin until after the holidays," Dumas said.