NEW ALBANY — The new Floyd County 911 dispatch center is just a few feet away from the old one. But when it comes to technology advances and efficiency, they are miles apart.

The Floyd County Sheriff’s Department went online with its new dispatch center at 6 this morning. Not only is the area in a new space in the sheriff’s department at the City-County Building, it is full of state-of-the art communications equipment which will allow Floyd County officers to speak to law enforcement personnel anywhere in the state or in Kentucky. It also doubles Floyd County’s 911 lines from two to four.

“It’s a pretty elaborate setup,” said Floyd County Sheriff Darrell Mills. “We will be able to talk directly to Yellow Ambulance which services Floyd County, which is important because several Floyd County roads are confusing.”

The old equipment was analog while the new setup is digital. The $1.4 million system not only includes four stations, but also portable and mobile units for each officer in Floyd County including city and Indiana University Southeast police.

“This will make it easier to communicate if there is some kind of major tragedy,” Mills said. “With the old system, we were pretty obsolete. We have gone with top-of-the-line equipment here.”

Pam Squier, administrative assistant and dispatch supervisor for the county, said Floyd County’s new system will rival any in the country.

“It would compare to what the big cities have,” she said.

Floyd County employs 13 dispatchers, and the center has at least two staffed for each shift.

The old communications center was constructed in 1994. The new center allows room for two more terminals should the city and county decide to merge dispatch centers, a move that Mills said would save $500,000 and would better serve the county’s residents.

Mills said he worked two years on merging city and county dispatch centers. He said having both in the same room not only saves money, but would be more efficient.

The measure died when the New Albany City Council voted 4-4 on a final reading in 2011. Councilman Steve Price was absent during the final vote, but later told the News and Tribune he would have voted against the merger.

Mayor Jeff Gahan was one of the four councilmen to vote against the merger. And there are different theories as to why the merger idea didn’t pass the city council. Mills hopes the idea is revisited and has planned for possible expansion in the new room.

“We tried two years to merge with the city, but we were not successful,” Mills said. “But we need to come back to it so we can be one center. We are here to serve the citizens and we should be together.”

The money for the new center came out of 911 funds, which the Floyd County Commissioners control. Gahan, in an email response, said under state statute the county commissioners are responsible to fund 911 emergency telephone operations.

“In the past, the city of New Albany has chosen to subsidize the county’s 911 emergency telephone operations. It is time for us to re-evaluate that decision,” the mayor said.

 The new dispatch center is equipped with Motorola equipment and includes all new monitors, headsets, four work stations and server. Each station has five monitors. Mills said it takes about six months for someone to be trained on the system. The 13 dispatchers have received extensive training on the new equipment.