A divided board of commissioners has signed off on a contract to renovate a former industrial building that the county has previously acquired in Burlington to house its 9-1-1 center and other emergency services.
The county’s governing board voted 3-to-2 on Monday to have CT Wilson Construction revamp this facility at 780 Plantation Drive, which was previously home to BD Diagnostics. According to county staff, CT Wilson has agreed to take on this work for $11.8 million – making it the lowest of three bidders who had competed for this particular contract.
The county originally acquired this one-time industrial site in the spring of 2023 in order to merge its 9-1-1 call center with the now-separate operation that the city of Burlington maintains for itself and the city of Graham.
Although Burlington has since pulled out of this project, the county has continued to go it alone thanks to $15 million from the N.C. General Assembly as well as additional funds from a state-maintained 9-1-1 fund. At the moment, the county still plans to leave room for Burlington’s emergency dispatchers in the renovated facility, which will also house the county’s emergency management office and other, related functions.
According to assistant county manager Brian Baker, the county has banked more than enough money to cover this project’s anticipated price tag of about $25.4 million. In addition to CT Wilson’s $15.8 million contract, this figure includes the building’s purchase price of $7.3 million, a design contract for over $800,000 that the commissioners approved in 2023, and another $5.1 million for technology, equipment, and other miscellaneous expenses.
Baker contrasted these costs with the nearly $26.3 million that the county has squirreled away for this project, including $7.4 million in 9-1-1 funds, the legislature’s $15 million allocation, and the more than $3.8 million in interest that the $15 million has generated.
Baker’s assurances that the proposed renovation contract is well within this project’s budget weren’t enough to persuade commissioner Pam Thompson to give her imprimatur to CT Wilson’s services.
“It seems like we get these big grants from Raleigh or Washington and then we’re held for it,” she insisted.
Commissioner Ed Priola also withheld his support due to lingering questions that he said he has about the project itself.
“At this point, I have reservations that I would like to have addressed. There are gaps that I don’t understand. . . that doesn’t mean that I don’t think the project should move forward at a later time.”
– County commissioner Ed Priola
“At this point,” he said, “I have reservations that I would like to have addressed. There are gaps that I don’t understand…that doesn’t mean that I don’t think the project should move forward at a later time.”
Priola and Thompson went on to dissent from the 3-to-2 vote in favor of the contract, which passed with the support of commissioner John Paisley, Jr., the board’s vice chairman Steve Carter, and Kelly Allen, the chairman of Alamance County’s commissioners.
