MADISON, Wis. — Dane County Executive Melissa Agard joined public safety and local government leaders on Monday as ground was broken on a new 34,000-square-foot communications facility.


What You Need To Know

  • Ground was broken on a new 34,000-square-foot communications center
  • Officials expect the new communications facility to be completed in the next two years

  • Dane County Dispatch can only have 20 people scheduled at one time in the current location

  • The new building will provide more space to address the mental health needs of workers

“The services provided here by the Dane County communications facility impacts a broad number of people across our county,” said Pete Vogel, the president and CEO of Vogel Brothers building company.

Officials expect the building to be completed in the next two years. 

(Spectrum News 1/Cody Taylor)

It is a project Vogel said hits close to home, as dispatch recently helped to save his mother’s life after she went into cardiac arrest. 

“My father was able to reach 911 and because of the services the Dane County Sheriff and EMS responded to, my mother, who is 93 years old, is alive and with us today,” said Vogel. 

Johnny Leonard is the Dane County communications deputy director. He said his team outgrew their current location years ago. 

“When it comes to additional people in training, that shift overlap, the growth of the county and then needing additional personnel, we’re just outgrowing this space,” said Leonard. 

Leonard said he can only have 20 people scheduled at one time in the current location.

He expects that the new facility will allow him to bring that number up to 44. 

(Spectrum News 1/Cody Taylor)

“It is also going to have additional space for training, so that will also be a flex room for other operational positions that can be expanded out onto the floor,” said Leonard. 

Luis Bixler is the deputy director of Dane County Public Safety Communications. Bixler said the job of a dispatcher can be very stressful and mentally taxing. 

He said the new building will provide more space to address the mental health needs of his workers. 

“The most exciting part of this is just the trauma-informed architecture part of it,” said Bixler. “So, they can finally have some space as well as some areas where they can really decompress after calls.”