By Moses Leos III

With power outages an issue at the Kyle Police Department’s dispatch center on Center Street, the Kyle City Council pushed forward upgrades to help the facility meet electrical standards. 

By a 7-0 vote on June 2, the Kyle council approved a $17,393 budget amendment to the city’s general fund to foot the bill for the improvements.  

The purchase of new furniture for the city’s dispatch unit triggered the need to improve equipment. But police chief Jeff Barnett said the need goes further, primarily when the dispatch center took over the space used by the department prior to the move to its current location in 2013. 

In September, the city council allocated funds in the Fiscal year 2015 budget for improved and ergonomic furniture for the city’s dispatch unit. 

According to Barnett, that was the “big project,” as many of the city’s dispatch terminals were third-generation, and had safety issues. 

But with the addition of new terminals, Assistant City Manager James Earp said an upgrade in the electrical system was priority. 

The building, which was built in the early 1950’s, once functioned as the city’s Post Office and wasn’t meant to handle the electrical stress of the city’s Emergency Management building. 

Earp said the building functions more as a “mini data center.” Housed inside of the building are the city’s 911 servers, the city’s emergency service radio equipment, and the necessary computers for dispatchers. 

“There’s a lot of power that goes through there,” he said on May 19. 

The influx of power has led to outages, with the building’s circuit breaker “tripping too much,” according to Barnett. He said the building was “many years behind on electrical work” and exceeded its power allotment on several occasions. 

According to Barnett, one circuit breaker “melted” before it tripped due to the excess of power. 

Other issues included “daisy chaining” multiple power strips together, along with the building housing a lack of multiple circuits. 

Barnett said many power strips were “filled to capacity,” causing power issues for the facility. 

“The joke is, you plug in the coffee maker, and you have to unplug a fan, otherwise the entire center is shutting down,” Earp said. 

While the city inquired about relocating the facility, Earp said the minimum quote was $1 million. Costs included moving the equipment, along with the city’s fiber-optic cable lines. 

Instead, the city opted to renovate the structure and rewire to meet the electrical needs. With the assistance of Rogers Electrical, the department recently completed the building’s overhaul. 

Barnett said the building received updated wiring and outlets that go through the “proper channels.” The building also received the appropriate “electrical and information technology” needs to where it should function “more efficiently.” 

That includes adding additional circuits to avoid issues. 

Upgrades were also made to the structures breaker box system. 

The move to upgrade the facility’s infrastructure has been a “vital” project to complete for Police Chief Jeff Barnett, one he said has been “needed for many years.” 

“Our 911 system is critical to proving the appropriate response for police, fire and EMS services in Kyle,” Barnett said. “The improvements that have been made are essential to providing those services.”