$6.3M Polk County 911 dispatch center meeting expectations

A ribbon-cutting ceremony and guided tours are on deck later this month in Bolivar for a multimillion-dollar 911 dispatch center that officials say was years in the making.

Sarah Newell, director of Polk County Central Dispatch, said the organization moved into the roughly 10,000-square-foot facility in August 2025 after the project wrapped about $200,000 under budget at $6.3 million. However, Newell said officials weren’t ready to show the new structure at 370 N. Davis Drive off to the public at that time, which resulted in delaying the ribbon-cutting until warmer weather. The event with the Bolivar Area Chamber of Commerce is set for May 26.

Newell said the organization has provided tours of the facility in recent months to satiate curiosity from the community. The excitement level for Polk County Central Dispatch has been notable since exiting its former leased space at 1705 S. Lillian Ave., Ste. B, in Bolivar, she said. The new building’s square footage is approximately twice as large as its prior home.

“We’re absolutely ecstatic about it,” she said. “It just gives them the tools they need. It gives them the space they need.”

Crossland Construction Co. Inc. was general contractor on the project, and Kansas City-based Hoefer Welker LLC was architect, Newell said, adding the precast concrete building’s safety features include providing an on-site public storm shelter and the ability to withstand up to 250 mph winds. 

“It’s been a long time coming. We’ve never had our own home,” Newell said of the 23-year-old organization. “We’ve always rented or leased whatever different space here and there.”

All 911 calls are routed through the dispatch center, which operates 24/7 and is governed by a board of directors representing the city of Bolivar, Citizens Memorial Hospital, Polk County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Polk County Commission and the Polk County Fire & Rescue Training Association, according to the organization’s website. It coordinates all emergency services, including police, fire and medical responses.

Steve Bruce, Polk County Central Dispatch board chair, said he’s proud of the new facility, adding it can serve as a morale boost for the staff of 26.

“What they have now is so much improved over what they had before,” he said. “There was nothing wrong before with what we had. It just wasn’t where we felt like it needed to be to serve the people in the community.”

Building amenities
Polk County Central Dispatch always has at least two dispatchers on duty and currently utilizes seven consoles in its existing space, Newell said, noting the new building is “absolutely” meeting expectations. Additionally, there is a multipurpose training room that has space to quickly allow two more dispatchers if needs arise.

“We want to make sure that people understand that we didn’t build outside of our needs,” she said. “We built with what was necessary and needed at the time. All the space is being utilized appropriately and effectively.”

Aside from the training room, which has classroom-style seating capacity of 30 – twice the size of the former dispatch center’s meeting space – the new building includes a 180-foot tower that handles its radio communications, a garage for its mobile command vehicle, a full kitchen, locker rooms, bathrooms, showers and two sleeping quarters.

Newell said the sleeping quarters were put into use during the snowstorm that hit the Ozarks in late January.

“During the snowstorm, my overnight shift were all out-of-county folks,” she said. “In previous years, I’ve had to pay to put them up in hotels so they get to work and stay at work and be able to manage since we cannot shut down.”

Finding funding
While Newell said construction went smoothly for the new dispatch center, getting to that point was a lengthy process. Its groundbreaking ceremony was held July 2024, which was preceded by the county’s Emergency 911 Board approval of a $180,000 purchase in 2017 of nearly 5 acres in Davis Properties’ Village Acres. The Bolivar retail office park is where the facility was built, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

Funding was a challenge, Newell said, noting the project would have been impossible without state assistance. The dispatch center was awarded $4.4 million in state funds as part of the fiscal 2024 budget to help pay for the project. She said former Gov. Mike Parson, who maintains a residence in Bolivar, along with Sens. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, and Sandy Crawford, R-Buffalo, all were supportive of the center and helped get state funding across the finish line.

Remaining funding for the center comes from the county’s 3/8-cent sales tax, which voters approved in 2011. Newell said the tax generated around $1.6 million last year, which has been relatively flat in recent years.

“Our goal was as population increased, then you’ve got more people shopping locally, and then that would increase the revenue,” she said. “We don’t ever want to have to raise a tax, so we’re kind of wanting to grow at a pace that the community grows. But with inflation and everything, we are seeing the community grow, but we’re not seeing that sales tax revenue really increase a whole lot.”

Polk County population in 2025 was 33,604, a 6.6% increase from 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Newell said call volume was around 95,000 last year, comprising roughly 15,000 for 911 calls and 80,000 nonemergency calls. Call volume this year is slightly ahead of 2025’s pace, she said, adding she’s confident in the staff’s ability to handle an increase.

While Newell believes the facility will accommodate the organization’s needs for years to come, there is room for expansion as needs dictate. The building itself can also become larger as only a portion of the nearly 5 acres purchased nearly a decade ago is currently being utilized, she said.

“The layout that we have, we have additional empty space in the back to be able to add positions when that is needed,” she said. “We did not fill those just yet, just because we’re trying to be good stewards of the money.”