Outagamie County, Wisconsin, has officially opened its new Sheriff’s 911 Emergency Communications Center, a modern facility designed to enhance emergency response, improve coordination and meet growing public safety needs across the region.
The new, 9,300-square-foot building replaces the county’s previous dispatch center, which was located in a basement space that no longer met operational, safety or accessibility standards.
The facility was designed in partnership with Wold Architects and Engineers, a regional architecture and engineering firm with extensive expertise in public safety design. Located adjacent to the existing sheriff’s office in Appleton, the new center supports dispatch operations, integrates advanced technology and provides a secure, resilient environment for critical response coordination.
In addition to the dispatch center, the new facility features a large, multi-purpose training room that supports a variety of sheriff’s office operations as well as training for other county departments. The team also integrated an adjacent dispatch training room that can be opened to the main communications floor to provide overflow capacity during peak emergency events, helping ensure uninterrupted service.
Built with redundancy and resiliency at its core, the facility is equipped to maintain operations during extreme events and includes space for future expansion as the county’s needs evolve. Flexible work areas accommodate changing dispatch demands while supporting staff wellness and long-term operational efficiency.
Wold initially conducted a space needs analysis and pre-design effort for the County before being retained to design the new facility. Throughout the process, Wold worked closely with county leaders and sheriff’s representatives to ensure the final design would reflect operational goals, support long-term growth and stand as a lasting asset to the public.
