Cedar Park City Council approved a $1.7 million contract on October 8 to relocate the city's emergency dispatch center into a larger space within the same police headquarters building, swapping a cramped second-floor room for a first-floor space nearly double its size. The Public Safety Communications Division, which handles 911 dispatching for both the Cedar Park Police Department and Cedar Park Fire Department, has outgrown its current quarters.
The move was made possible by an earlier relocation. Police training staff vacated the first floor of headquarters in April after shifting operations to the city's new Public Safety Training Facility, as reported by Community Impact. That freed-up training conference room is now slated to become a secure, 24/7 dispatch center, while the old dispatch space will be converted into flexible multipurpose space. Dispatch supervisor Nicholle Benedict described the current center as cramped and lacking room to add dispatchers, saying the new space will give dispatchers enough room to breathe, the outlet reported.
Doubling the Footprint, Keeping 911 Lines Live
Cedar Park has selected Trimbuilt Construction to carry out the project, which includes updating furniture and equipment and upgrading mechanical, electrical, plumbing and technology systems throughout the new space. Per Jessica Kintz, the new communications center will have double the footprint of the existing center, and emergency dispatch services will continue uninterrupted throughout the move. Michael Endres said the existing dispatch room is small, hot and contains powerful computers, adding that staff deserve the new space, per the same account.
A city filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, made in May, projected that construction would start July 1 and finish by February 2027. Per Jessica Kintz, construction is expected to take about nine months. Council also approved a roughly $175,000 contract with Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson for construction inspection and observation services tied to the project.
How the Project Is Being Paid For
The dispatch center project is funded by a 2025 Certificate of Obligation, with an anticipated cost of $3 million, per the state filing. That financing route differs from the one used for the city's new training campus down the road: under Texas Local Government Code, municipal Certificates of Obligation let local governments issue tax-supported debt for public projects without a voter referendum unless five percent of registered voters petition for an election, according to the Texas Bond Review Board.
By contrast, Cedar Park's $30 million Public Safety Joint Training Facility, which held its ribbon-cutting on April 24, was financed through the $158.8 million bond package that Cedar Park voters approved in May 2022, according to Community Impact. That campus brought police and fire training together under one roof for the first time, with a 17,000-square-foot main training building at 1200–1204 Fire Lane housing classrooms, administrative offices and the city's first dedicated Emergency Operations Center, alongside a separate 10,000-square-foot simulation and fitness building, as reported by KLBJ-AM. The facility was designed by Hoefer Welker and built by Core Construction.
A Contractor the City Already Knows
Trimbuilt Construction isn't new to Cedar Park's municipal projects. The firm was awarded a $2.27 million renovation contract in January 2022 for City Hall buildings and municipal court facilities, having been selected that year based on high experience and schedule ratings.
The dispatch upgrade also arrives as Cedar Park keeps growing. U.S. Census Bureau estimates put the city's population at approximately 79,032 residents in 2025, up from 77,595 in 2020. That growth has coincided with staffing strain at the police department, which reported 12 open vacancies, with public safety leadership pointing to upgraded training and expanded work facilities as tools to help recruitment and retention, according to KVUE. Defensive tactics training had previously been constrained by limited classroom space, the station reported.
Looking Ahead to a Possible 2027 Bond
Cedar Park isn't done planning. City Council created a Bond Advisory Task Force in August to evaluate potential public safety and capital projects for a prospective 2027 voter bond election, using a model the city has deployed for past bond elections in 2007, 2015 and 2022. The current dispatch and training upgrades sit alongside a regional backdrop: Williamson County Emergency Communications operates a 911 dispatch network serving roughly 28 law enforcement, fire and medical agencies across a county population of 750,000.
