Gary Fletcher

The Observer

ENTERPRISE At Wallowa County’s new $850,000 state-of-the art Community Justice Center, deputies advanced from sticky notes to voice mail retrievable from anywhere.

City police, meantime, upgraded from 3×5-inch cards to electronic records shared with four other agencies.

The 6,800 square-foot building at 104 W. Greenwood became operational a few days ago.

The public is invited an open house from 2 to 7 p.m. Dec. 15 to check out the new digs.

Related agencies from four former locations now operate together at this one.

The 9-1-1 Operations Center, and the Wallowa County Sheriff’s Office moved in from the county courthouse.

The Enterprise Police Department came from City Hall, and the Wallowa County Department of Youth Services moved out of its rented

space in the Burnaugh Building.

Soon, the Union/Wallowa Community Corrections Office, for parole and probation follow up, will also move over from the courthouse.

Efficiencies will be gained in the sharing of services, Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen said. The state-of-the-art phone system connects all the agencies, yet each can still be reached at its current directory number.

All receptionist positions were combined into one. Marilyn Hulse, Youth Services administrative assistant, greets the public at the front desk from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday.

At the secured entrance, public access may now feel and appear a little different.

After hours, visitors push a red button. The person can be buzzed in by unseen 911 dispatchers.

"Communications is the most important thing to public safety," Steen said.

The $800,000 federal grant, which essentially funded the building construction, required a communication center secure from possible damage or tampering. Dispatchers are no longer accessible to be distracted by the general public.

Three years ago, a $387,000 federal Homeland Security grant funded an upgrade of the county radio communications system.

It provided the sheriff’s office, city police, fire departments and emergency services with the same user-friendly radios.

It also upgraded the mountain repeaters. In about six months, a new tower should give radio coverage in Wallowa Canyon, Steen said.

The new building is self-sufficient if the power grid goes down. "It could be an emergency operations center in the event of a natural or man-made disaster," Steen said.

The building has the first evidence area, appropriate to maintain the chain of evidence, a digital camera security system, electric strike doors and an interview room. For the first time in a long time it will have a 12-bed, six-cell temporary holding area that meets state and federal standards.

Now detainees can be held 96 hours. This provides flexibility to bring prisoners to court arraignments within 36 hours. This can save fuel, maintenance and salary expenses by eliminating some trips to the Umatilla County Jail in Pendleton.

It’s still more economical for this county to continue a contract with Umatilla County, Steen said. One factor is that enforcement officers are not certified as corrections officers.

"The county gets a big bang for its buck," Steen said.

After help from federal and state programs, only some 60 percent of his department’s budget comes from the county’s general fund, he said.

The vacant city police office will be used by the city recorder. A committee is evaluating what to do with the sheriff’s former space in the county courthouse, commissioner Ben Boswell said.