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WARREN -- Trumbull County Commissioners on Wednesday said they are strongly leaning toward placing the new Trumbull County 911 Center at Kent State University at Trumbull campus instead of the second floor of the county's Health Department building in Cortland.
Commission President Tony Bernard made the announcement during a discussion about applying for a 2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant through the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services.
"Our next phase is we are going to sit down with Kent State officials and see if we could come up with a tentative agreement that we can all live with," Bernard said. "I don't want to discuss the terms right now, but if anyone sees the facility, they will see this is the right place for the 911 Center."
Commissioner Rick Hernandez added the KSU Trumbull site is absolutely the best area for the county's 911 service.
"I look forward to working with the commissioners, the architects, the consultants, the dean and everyone involved with this project," he said. "I think the county will be very happy to see what we are going to do at Kent State with 911."
Commissioner Denny Malloy said the county will be able to form partnerships with Trumbull Career & Technical Center and KSU-Trumbull and have a recruitment education base for job placement into the 911 Center.
"It is a nice location for employees and it is centrally located for any officers that need to stop in for training facilities there," he said.
Malloy estimated it will take about 15 months after all of the agreements are approved to have the center completed. Bernard noted the county is expected to save $3 million by moving into the KSU facility, instead of what was proposed for the move into the Health Department building.
"That's a big, big factor," Bernard said. "This is a much better facility in my opinion."
In April, Bernard estimated it would cost up to $6 million for the county's 911 Center to move into the Cortland facility because of the extensive upgrades that would need done.
The Health Department building in Cortland was, at one point, a leading candidate for the new 911 center until commissioners decided to look at other possible locations. It was at that point that KSU officials contacted Commissioner Rick Hernandez about touring the school.