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PARKERSBURG - Wood County commissioners approved policies and procedures for the incident dispatch team of the new mobile command unit, and for use of the vehicle itself. The new mobile unit is scheduled to be delivered in December.

"These are policies we are recommending for use of our 911 dispatchers and the mobile command unit. These types of policies are being done nationally, and we researched similar regulations from other counties, including Cabell County, which has a mobile team and is in the process of seeking bids for a mobile unit. If there is a dispatcher at the scene of an incident, we can dispatch other agencies ... be a resource," said Wood County 911 Director Randy Lowe. "We presented these to the 911 advisory board and they approved them before we presented them to you," Lowe told commissioners.

Wood County Emergency Management Services Director Ed Hupp said work on the garage for the unit, which will be located at the 911 Center on Core Road, began Monday.

"We are looking at a delivery date of probably the first of December for the truck," Lowe said.

Farber Speciality Vehicles of Columbus is building the $150,000 mobile unit. As part of the agreement with Farber, the county stipulated a Hino truck chassis had to be used in construction of the vehicle. The county was earlier awarded a $150,000 Homeland Security grant for the mobile command unit.

The unit will be available in the event of an emergency or disaster. Hupp said earlier the vehicle can be used in all types of emergencies from law enforcement to fire, hazardous materials response and emergency medical situations. The command center will also serve as a back-up 911 dispatch center. The unit will be made available to all agencies in the county as well as Homeland Security Region I.

The proposed regulations include noting the role of the unit.

"The purpose of the policies is to dictate to the 911 center, to the dispatchers, their perimeters in being able to respond to an actual event, right there at the scene of the event, and what will be required of them, the procedures on who can call them out, how long they are there," Lowe said.

"There will be an incident commander in charge, according to the National Incident Management System, whoever the commander is at the scene that is who the dispatchers will answer to, but they will also be under the 911 shift supervisor. There has to be coordination between the two," Lowe said. "The role is to function as part of the critical incident command team operating under the National Incident Management System."

A bid of $37,975 was accepted earlier by commissioners from Johnson General Construction, Washington, to construct the building to store the mobile command unit. Four computer-aided dispatch stations will be included in the unit.