Relocating 911 ops center will ensure continuous emergency services during State School sale

LACONIA — Lakes Region residents won't experience any gaps in emergency services after the area's 911 communications center is relocated from the former Laconia State School property.

State and local officials gathered at the location of a new 911 operations center on Meredith Center Road for a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday morning. 

Holding golden shovels, Gov. Kelly Ayotte, Executive Councilor Joe Kenny (R-01) and other figures of Granite State politics and governance threw the ceremonial dirt on the site where one of New Hampshire’s two 911 communications centers will be located. 

“We have terrific telecommunications specialists that do important emergency work every single day on behalf of the state — day and night, holidays and weekends — and they deserve a top-notch facility,” Ayotte said Monday morning.

Monday marked the beginning of an $18.5 million project which will relocate the 911 center, currently on the grounds of the State School property, to a different parcel at 311 Meredith Center Road. The new facility, designed by architecture firm Harriman Associates of Auburn, Maine, and to be constructed by Harvey Construction of Bedford, will create a state-of-the-art building to be shared by the Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid Association.

“We all know that without our telecommunications specialists, without those emergency personnel, we would not be able to serve the people of New Hampshire in their most difficult moments and I want to thank those specialists who are out there, that are working really hard on our behalf,” Ayotte said. 

Around 45 people will work at the new facility on any given day, including both 911 center employees and a handful from mutual fire aid. 

The new Public Safety Answering Point replaces the old facility at the State School, as that property begins the initial stages of development under the guiding hand of Pillsbury Realty Development, the firm which came out on top of a competitive bidding process through the state last year. 

“It takes a village, it takes a team, it takes everybody,” Kenney said. “Every day, dispatchers across New Hampshire answer calls from people experiencing some of the worst moments of their lives.

“Today, we take a meaningful step toward giving them the state-of-the-art facility that they deserve. This new center will be equipped with technology, infrastructure and support needed to respond rapidly and effectively to emergencies — not just here in Laconia, but throughout the region.”

According to plans presented to the city’s Planning Board in August 2024, the 21,000-square-foot complex and adjacent outbuilding would become home to the 911 center and fire aid association over a two-year period. On Monday morning, Mark Doyle, state director of emergency services and communications, said funding is secured through the state budget, and the project is expected to be completed in less than 18 months. 

“We’ve been advised through the project planning as well as the general contractor that it should be roughly up to 16 months before this project is completed,” Doyle said Monday morning. 

Ward 1 Councilor Bruce Cheney, himself the former director of the Division of Emergency Services of Communications, was also in attendance. 

“Bruce really helped to build the 911 system up from the ground here in New Hampshire,” Steven Lavoie, assistant commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Safety, said. “We’re honored to have you with us today, and glad you could share this moment with us.”