SILER CITY — The police department has completed a $20,000 renovation project of its emergency operations center using donated funds from the Duke Energy Foundation.
The grant was awarded last year as part of a $1.1 million philanthropic effort by the Fortune 125 company. Siler City’s police department was one of 65 organizations across North Carolina to receive money for use in “storm resiliency,” a nonspecific category that included “specialized training for first responders for severe weather scenarios, organized planning initiatives for communities to prepare for extreme weather, equipment necessary for severe weather rescues to preserve human life” and more, according to the company’s press release.
“Every year we focus on a different local impact focus area,” said Indira Everett, a Duke Energy district manager who oversaw the dispensation of grant money for Chatham County. “And because we had had so many hurricanes last year, we decided to focus on storm resiliency grants, which allow the towns and the cities and others to submit grants.”
The project was unique. Organizations like the police department would not typically qualify to apply for money from Duke Energy’s outreach programs.
“It’s usually not the way our foundation dollars are given,” Everett said. “They’re usually given to just nonprofits. So, I was really excited about it because (Siler City’s police department) could get money.”
Everett, who oversees Chatham, Durham, Orange and Lee counties in her role at Duke Energy, lives in Durham. But she has a special fondness for Chatham, serving this year as the chairperson of the board of directors of the Chatham Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s important to me to be deeply ingrained into my community,” Everett said. “And that’s everybody’s job (at Duke Energy). All of us make an effort to be on strategic boards, to have relationships with our elected officials and our nonprofits.”
Last year, Everett was serving on 11 boards when she realized it was too much.
“I was stupid,” she said jokingly. “I was just wearing myself out. I wasn’t doing as well as I wanted to do and didn’t have the time to commit like I wanted to. And so, one of my goals in January was to split that in half. So, I think I’m down to five boards now. But the chamber was one that was important to me to stay on.”
From her intimate knowledge of Chatham County, Everett knew exactly what potential applicants could benefit most from the grant money when the program was announced.
“I have a key community leader list and storm list and I sent out a note saying this grant cycle window is about to open, we encourage you to submit,” Everett said.
In Siler City, then-town manager Bryan Thompson and Interim Police Chief Jeanne Miller were quick to seize the opportunity.
“They put their proposal out,” said current Chief Mike Wagner, who has overseen most of the EOC’s renovation. “They populated the grant with all the needs and necessities and they were awarded the money. And that’s how this room got built.”
Before the project began, the department’s EOC was run down and its technology antiquated.
“So, it’s been a great partnership,” Wagner said. “It’s great because I can tell you this, without Duke Energy and their vision of having grants for projects like this, I could never afford this — never.”
The room features a brand-new conference table, several desks, ergonomic seating and a striking centerpiece: an 85-inch interactive whiteboard monitor.
“Basically, it’s a computer and a theater is what it is,” Wagner said. “It has the capabilities — with different tools — that you can draw on it, you can write on it, you can do whatever you want with it really. And with the Zoom capabilities with the camera, it gives us the ability to have conference calls with other emergency management personnel or any particular special interest group that we’re working with for a pre-planned event or some type of critical incident. It now gives us the capacity to work with our peers regionally, without having to be displaced.”
Wagner hopes the updated EOC will prepare the department to better serve Siler City despite the department’s limited size.
“This is so important to the public safety, especially for a small town where the budget is not big as others’,” Wagner said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a $500 million department or $50 million department, the basic needs and the service that their community demands are still the same. But it’s more of a struggle in a small town because of the other different things pulling on budgetary items of need.”
Wagner said the department needed the upgrade.
“Just because we’re a small-town department doesn’t mean we don’t have to have that capacity to do the same work,” he said. “It’s all the same.”
Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com.