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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > November > 23 > Entry
County has big plans for EOC
Butler County Emergency Management Director Jeff Galloway’s dream is a sprawling, 9,000-square-foot emergency command center. Sleeping bunks. Showers. A media room, and cutting edge technology.
It’s a far cry from the 580-square-foot conference room that currently serves as the county’s Emergency Operations Center. And it’s likely to remain a dream for some time.
In the interim, county officials have broken the project into three phases, the first of which may be done in roughly 6 months.
That first phase will move the EOC from the sixth floor of the Government Services Center in downtown Hamilton to the building that formerly housed the agricultural extension office on Princeton Road.
The building is also the home of the county’s new emergency radio system, and has nearly 2,000 square feet of open space for an EOC.
With minimal county money and a federal grant, county Administrator Tim Williams said the building can be ready to go in months. And the EMA has state grants ready to buy equipment for the new facility.
The EMA would still have offices downtown, but they and police, fire, hospital and other emergency workers would all report to the new EOC to coordinate response in an emergency. There will be a small conference room and 16 desks, each seating two people.
“It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Galloway said.
The plan also calls for the Butler County Sheriff’s Office to move its emergency dispatchers to the other side of the building, which houses the new radio system. There will be space for six dispatchers, which Sheriff Richard K. Jones said will be cheaper than keeping them in different locations.
The second phase is where things get bogged down. That phase calls for an addition to the building with all the amenities listed above, including 18 EOC stations each seating three people and space for 24 dispatchers.
The county is struggling to balance its books and has no money for this. Williams said he’s looking for state and federal grants to help.
“It’s something that we’ll go forward with. It’s just a matter of timing,” Williams said. “We would look toward 2011 to come up with any funding.”
Then comes phase three, where the county takes the original building space and turns it into offices once the expanded EOC is done. That’s when the EMA will move its offices, and county officials hope at that point to be set up as a regional EOC — a backup if something happens to the center in Hamilton County.
“You never want to build to today’s standard,” Galloway said. “You always want to build for the future.”
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: Emergency Management Agency
Comments
By Mike
November 23, 2009 11:58 PM | Link to this
The county is looking a $5 million deficit in the face and they are still talking about building a new dispatch and emergency management office. How stupid.
By Steve
November 24, 2009 12:02 AM | Link to this
Bunks and showers, what is this a Holiday Inn? What about a kitchen and dining room, maybe a indoor pool and workout room.
By Mark
November 24, 2009 10:27 AM | Link to this
The Commissioners need to tell Galloway this is Butler County and not sunny Florida. We’re broke and can’t afford to build him a new office complex filled with toys.
By Worked There
November 28, 2009 1:43 PM | Link to this
Remind me why they moved the Agricultural Office out of that building? It made people sick I beleive.