December 2019 – The Washington County Consolidated Communications Agency (WCCCA) broke ground on what will be the site of their new dispatch center. The addition of the WCCCA dispatch center will complete an upgrade of the emergency radio communications network that voters approved in 2016. When completed in spring 2021, the center will field police, fire and medical calls, and dispatch help in the county, twelve cities, and five fire districts. The agency also handles calls from out-of-county cities within Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue district.
The center will account for about one-third of the bond issue that Washington County voters approved in May 2016 to upgrade radio equipment to digital technology, replace 3,000 obsolete analog radios used by member agencies, and build new towers to expand coverage. The agency, which employs about 100, is separate from county government and has its own governing board. But the county administrative staff prepared the bond, and the county board of commissioners put it on the 2016 ballot.
Click here to see the construction time lapse cam on the project.
