Six months after a tabled resolution in the county legislature sparked unrest among the county's firefighters, officials are reportedly looking into possibly relocating Firecom to the Westbury/New Cassel area.

According to sources close to the lawmakers, the legislature is looking at the former King Kullen warehouse location here, as the possible new home for a combined police and fire emergency communications center.

The present communications center is located in a bunker-type space directly adjacent to Nassau County Police Headquarters in Mineola.

For several years, in response to concerns about over-crowding and related health issues, the Gulotta administration has been studying a move to another location.

Addresses looked at include the Nassau County Medical Center, the former Grumman property, as well as prime, county-owned, real estate on Stewart Avenue in Garden City.

While the move itself is seen as much-needed by the legislature, a controversy erupted last winter after deputy presiding officer Peter Schmitt tabled a request for a $1/4 million in additional funding for an ongoing study of relocation sites.

"It's a long and involved story, but essentially what happened was, we were sent a bonding authorization for $10.5 million for a new County Clerk Records and Matrimonial Center, and at the same time, an additional request for $250,000 to complete a feasibility study that had been undertaken to assess what would be needed to convert a building on Stewart Avenue into a new Firecom center," said Legislator Schmitt.

"We didn't even know about this study until the request for funding came five months ago, and upon further research I learned that what they were looking at was ludicrous to begin with."

Thus far, the feasibility study on a proposed Stewart Avenue site for Firecom has cost the county $750,000. According to Schmitt, the building is 25,000 square feet, but Firecom and 911 and emergency services would need a total of 60,000 feet.

"Those doing the study now tell us that to make the Stewart Avenue site adequate for firecom, we'd need to spend $12 million to enlarge the building, and close to $9 million in new equipment ¬ and those costs are calculated without figuring in potential problems and stumbling blocks along the way," Schmitt said.

"In addition, undertaking such a renovation would put us three to five years away from moving the people from the bunker to the new building. We just couldn't do that.

"My intention in tabling the resolution for more funding for the study was to begin an entirely new, speedier process. We are presently looking at real estate throughout the entire county, and looking for a building that would require modest alterations. In that respect, the King Kullen property is one of several we are currently looking at."

"Ever since that resolution was tabled, we've all received letters blasting Schmitt from fire departments all over the county," said one legislator who requested anonymity.

"It's one of those cases where people are responding to either wholly wrong or incomplete information, and because of the rumors out there we're all taking a lot of heat."

According to this newspaper's sources, if the county can get a good price on the King Kullen property, it would buy the land and immediately put some county-owned property on the market, to off-set the cost.

Some legislators are reportedly skeptical of that plan, saying that if the county doesn't realize an immediate savings as a result of the deal, Schmitt's cost-conciousness will ultimately wind up being an exercise in futility.

Asked about the controversy, Legislator Richard Nicolello, who represents the southern tier of the Town of North Hempstead, including portions of Westbury and Carle Place, said, "What I hope our local firefighters realize is that I strongly support relocating Firecom ¬ and as soon as possible.

"While it is unfortunate that this move had to be accompanied by controversy, I want people to know that we're all working very hard to find a solution that will satisfy everyone's concerns."

"I wasn't suprised by the controversy," Legislator Schmitt said. "After all, these people have waited and waited and waited for their concerns to be addressed. They've been subjected to all kinds of false starts. But remember, we've only been dealing with this in the legislature for five months.

"We are committed to a new, state-of-the-art emergency management communications center. But we're not just going to throw money away either.

"I believe that when all is said and done, we're going to do it quicker, cheaper, and for that matter, better than it would have been had this study been allowed to go forward."