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County plans for new EOC building

Officials say the current Emergency Operations Center no longer meets preparedness needs.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published December 26, 2005

LECANTO - During the 2004 hurricane season, up to 80 people crammed into the "war room" at the county's Emergency Operations Center.

It was a tight squeeze, and a wake-up call for county and sheriff's officials.

Pointing toward the tiny corner where he said four National Guard officials crowded during hurricane briefings last year, sheriff's Capt. Joe Eckstein said that the time to construct a new EOC has come.

"This isn't a want. This is a need," said Eckstein, the county's emergency management director.

The current EOC, 3425 W Southern St. in Lecanto, was built in 1988. It is 4,269 square feet and houses the county's emergency management offices and the Sheriff's Office 911 dispatch center.

Eckstein describes the windowless building as a relic from the Cold War era that does not meet the county's emergency preparedness needs.

Even when disaster isn't looming, Eckstein said, the EOC is too small for its staff. Daily, Eckstein said 30 to 40 people work in the building. They share one kitchen and two bathrooms. One employee shares his office with the 911 tape machine and shelves of obsolete communication radios.

For months, he has been meeting with other county and sheriff's officials to hammer out plans for a new facility.

Many details, like the building's design and exactly how much it will cost to construct, are still in the works.

But last week the County Commission approved a contract with architect SchenkelSchultz Inc., agreeing to pay the firm 7.85 percent of the project's construction costs, a programming fee of $69,875 and a civil engineering fee of 10 percent of site work costs (estimated at $75,000).

Officials are planning to build a 27,500 square-foot facility on county-owned property north of Sovereign Path in Lecanto, across from the Department of Health.

About 15,000 square feet will house emergency management offices and the 911 call center. And about 12,000 square feet would be used to house a new Sheriff's Office district to oversee law enforcement in the county's growing Central Ridge area, Eckstein said.

Soon, Eckstein said SchenkelSchultz will come up with possible designs for the project on a computer and allow officials to "shift things around" until they come up with a layout that fits. But one feature of the new building is already certain: windows.

"I'm not interested in putting it underground," Eckstein said.

He said he also hopes to include a bigger "war room," breakout rooms for smaller briefings and meetings, sleeping quarters and enlarged kitchen and bathroom facilities. The dispatch center will be able to seat more radio operators, he said.

The project would also include a vehicle maintenance facility that will be located on W Woodland Ridge Drive across from the county jail.

By April, Eckstein hopes construction crews will break ground on the new EOC building. But before that happens, the project must be approved by the County Commission.

And they have to find a way to fund it.

"I'm very much in support of it," commission Chairman Gary Bartell said last week. "It's been obvious for a number of years that the existing EOC is too small and antiquated."

Once construction begins, Eckstein said it will take 12 to 16 months to finish the building. But he said no official timeline for the project has been set.

--Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

[Last modified December 26, 2005, 00:43:13]