BUCYRUS — The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Bucyrus Post 17 and district headquarters has a temporary home, effective March 21.
Captain Jerrod Savidge said the move to the former Checkmate building was an easy one.
“Fortunately, we had this building right next door. We kind of had the vision. It benefited us by making our move easier and we could also keep a better eye on the construction project that was coming ahead,” he said.
In February 2021, the post was notified that funds were set aside by the state to replace the district headquarters at 3665 State Route 4.
“Last March we contacted the owner of the building, Mr.Dzugan, and told him of our intentions. We told him of our intentions. We toured the facility and realized that it would hold us for a year.”
The demolition of the headquarters is scheduled to begin in the next week to 10 days, Savidge said.
A new building will be put up in its place, and that will take between 10-12 months.
“Being realistic, we realize there’s a lot of delays probably as far as supplies; living in the state of the world that we’re in right now,” he said.
Savidge estimates a move-in date somewhere between January and February 2023.
“We were putting money and more money into the old building.”
It was built in 1955.
“It served us well, 60-plus years. It was a good building. We looked into renovating it, but the way the building is constructed it just wasn’t an option for us to do,” Savidge said.
The old building had a basement. The new structure will have a conference room and will be available for community use. Moving the dispatch center was the most challenging aspect of the move to the temporary site.
“You’re looking at fiber optics, moving our radios over and our CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system over. It wasn’t an easy move,” he said.
The majority of the dispatch centers across Ohio have been renovated. The other two in the district are in Mansfield and Sandusky, and both have been upgraded.
“The building is half the district headquarters that encompasses north central Ohio and the other half is the Bucyrus post,” Savidge said.
The dispatch center handles Crawford and Wyandot counties and dispatches for the Marion Post. “That’s a lot of square miles.”
The Marion CAD was moved first to the temporary building, followed by the other one.
Dispatchers have five monitors and can track where troopers when out on the road. The new system will have desks that can raise and lower.
“The new system will have the option of standing or sitting while at the dispatch. It’s really better for dispatchers who are basically glued to that seat for 8 hours.”
The old building limited the post’s technology needs.
“This will allow us the square footage and just the ease of doing what we need to do to remain relevant,” Savidge said.
The building behind the post serves as the radio shop and garage area, and it will remain intact.
“That was renovated 3 years ago. We are going to do some renovation to the garage portion, what we call the wash bay where we wash the cars.”
About 50 men and women work from the building, handling shifts 24/7/365.
“Moving the troopers wasn’t a big deal. Our fuel pump right next door and its’s up and running. So that kind of made the transition a little bit easier,” Savidge said.
Savidge has been with the OHP for 29 and 1/2 years and has served as district commander since January 2021.
