Changes at the local public safety building
IN THE CITY
by Matthew J. Irwin
Recently, the Presque Isle Public Safety Building has been receiving a bit of a facelift. As you may or may not know, the public safety building has a training room that also serves as Presque Isle’s emergency operation center (EOC) in the event of a natural or man-made catastrophe. Both the fire and police departments have been working together to bring state-of-the-art technological capabilities to the citizens of Presque Isle. These various technologies will serve many purposes for each department.
Everything from new carpet and paint, to dual large screen monitors, a new computer, and our newest acquisition — a 55-inch Mondopad — which is the latest in smart-board technology. These changes will allow your public safety personnel to train and prepare like never before. Likewise, when needed as an EOC, the City government will have all the technological resources necessary to help with disaster preparedness, including proper planning, government response and coordination and personnel deployment. Additionally, we will now have the ability to videoconference, which could save city personnel time and money in travel costs for mandatory training and meetings downstate.
The great thing about all of this is that the training room was in desperate need of new carpet and paint, which had been budgeted; we were able to parlay that expenditure and some additional in-kind costs into a matching grant that funded the project in its entirety.
I would like to publicly thank the Presque Isle Fire Department personnel who truly made this project a success in every way! Chief White and I are planning to have a Public Safety Building open house this spring to showcase the many improvements our departments have made; that date will be forthcoming.
Chief Matthew J. Irwin of the Presque Isle Police Department can be reached at 764-2535 or via e-mail at mirwin@presqueisleme.us.
