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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > January > 22 > Entry
County to move emergency operations center
Butler County’s emergency operations center, the county’s nerve center in a disaster, is relocating to the edge of Hamilton, county commissioners agreed this morning, Jan. 21.
In a 2-0 decision (Commissioner Gregory Jolivette was absent), commissioners agreed to move the EOC from the Government Services Center in downtown Hamilton to the former Ohio State University agricultural extension office on Princeton Road.
Emergency officials have long said the current office on the sixth floor of one of the tallest buildings in the county is a bad location — cramped and with bad cell phone reception — and it never fully activated after the Sept. 14 windstorm in part because of lack of electricity.
Commissioners favor the new site because of “economy and location,” said Commission President Donald Dixon. He said it’s already owned by the county, accessible, near the county’s senior citizens home and solidly built.
It is also the home of the county’s new emergency communication radio system and could some day house a new dispatch center for the sheriff’s office, commissioners said.
But, as previously reported, Emergency Management Director William Turner and EMA Board Chairman Dennis Conrad both have concerns about the new site.
What do you think?
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: Emergency Management Agency
Comments
By Linda
January 22, 2009 1:14 PM | Link to this
I thought that building was closed because radon gas was making the workers in the building sick.
By Daniel
January 23, 2009 3:00 PM | Link to this
I’ve attended meeting at both the Agriculture Building and the current EMA offices, I doubt there si anymore room at the Agriculture Building than at the current office of Emergency Services in the administration building.
By Linnie
January 23, 2009 3:04 PM | Link to this
With the experience that Conrad and Turner has in public safety and emergency management, the commissioners would we wise to listen to them. I suspect that if the sheriff is incharge of the radio system in the building and is moving his dispatch to the same location, then the sheriff is going to run EMA. Mr. Turner is wise to be leaving this mess because it is going to get worse.
By Kelley
January 23, 2009 3:07 PM | Link to this
The unanswered question is what is the space being vacated by EMA going to be used for?
By Betty
January 23, 2009 8:06 PM | Link to this
Listen to what the commissioners are saying and tell me it isn’t stupid. First they say the Emergency Center should not be in the government building downtown, next they say it’s fine to have it in the building with the radio system and emergency dispatch. What’s the difference, now it’s a bigger target for some bad person. The commissioners are playing games with our safety.
By Wendy
January 23, 2009 8:18 PM | Link to this
Let’s see if I understand this right, the soon to be ex-director of the Emergency Agency put the funding together for this million dollar operations building from grants, yet the commissioners are kicking him to the curb. So much for graditude from our elected leaders. Does this make the commissioners look like idiots or is it just me.
By Jack
January 23, 2009 8:26 PM | Link to this
Looks to me like some of Don Dixon’s friends in the construction business needs work. It will be interesting to see who gets the job of remodeling this building. As for what is the vacated space going to be used for, Don needs a bigger office, his head won’t fit in the one he has.
By George
January 23, 2009 8:34 PM | Link to this
Josh, this wasn’t the only story at Thursdays commissioners meeting. Don Dixon after ranting earlier in the week about the travel and training cost of county employees, voted to pay for his girl friend to take a trip on the taxpayers dime. Did you miss that one?
By Lena
January 23, 2009 8:43 PM | Link to this
I can’t beleive Don Dixon is still voting on issues related to this lady friend and the board of elections. This stuff with him and her makes Furman’s ex-son-in-law problems look like no big deal. But on the other hand even when he dosen’t vote the other two commissioners look silly voting on the same issues when everyone knows Don had told them how to vote before the meeting. If a wife of a commissioner was working in a county office hell would be to pay for stuff like this. It’s better to live in sin, I guess.
By Wallace
January 23, 2009 8:49 PM | Link to this
What’s happened to Greg Jollivette, he looks like a puppet with Dixon pulling the strings. Greg used to have some backbone but no more. What ever Dixon say’s Jolly agrees with and goes along.