By Cristy Loftis
Photo by Matthew Beck: Employees of Welbro Building Co. work on the
room in the new Emergency Operations Center planned to house computer network
servers. Some of the rooms are designed with raised flooring so that the wires
can run underneath.
Hanging down like jungle vines and snaking along the floor - workers have
begun the massive job of wiring the county's new Emergency Operations Center.
It's just one of the hundreds of tasks that will be completed in the coming
months to finish the building on Saunders Way in Lecanto.
Welbro Building Co. senior project manager Chris Brown said construction is
on time and the project is on budget.
The 40,040-square-foot building is 10 times the size of the current Citrus
County Sheriff's Office EOC.
Capt. Joe Eckstein said the cost of the new building is about $12.8 million
- $4.135 million of which is grant money.
Officials broke ground last October and plan to move in Oct. 15.
With the guidance of Homeland Security officials, the EOC is designed with a
front lobby lined with bulletproof glass.
It should be able to withstand 165-mph winds and the outside glass can
withstand 120-mph impacts. There is a backup well in case of a water main
break, and three 450-watt generators.
The EOC will have a small gym, industrial kitchen and sleeping quarters.
Planners incorporated natural lighting into the building's design.
Swipe cards must be used to open doors. Even the computer cable lines are
more advanced than what the current computers require. The idea is to be ready
for future technology.
"For the region, we're above and beyond everyone else," Eckstein
said.
The building is designed to accommodate 20 to 25 years of growth.
The new EOC will house detectives and other field operations personnel.
There will be rooms to interview suspects and places to temporarily store
evidence. The crime analysis unit will move there from the operations center in
Inverness.
"We are about to kill two birds with one stone," Eckstein said.
"We needed a new EOC and we needed to free up space at the operations
center."
In the event of a major disaster, the EOC will also temporarily house other
government offices, such as the supervisor of elections and property appraiser.
These constitutional offices could bring in their computer services and operate
for the community out of the EOC.
"It gives us a building that, if other county buildings are damaged or
destroyed, we can keep going," Eckstein said. "The faster we can get
local government up and running, the better it will be for Citrus."
So far, construction has gone smoothly with Welbro officials, Eckstein said.
Welbro built the school district's Renaissance Center and made major
renovations at Crystal River Middle School. Welbro has built hurricane shelters
in the past, as well as a crime lab for the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement.
In the past five years, Welbro projects have provided local subcontractors
with about $2.93 million worth of work - about $1.79 million for the EOC
project.
As far as the need for a new EOC is concerned, Eckstein said working
conditions are cramped at the current building on West Southern Street in
Lecanto. That 4,000-square-foot building is partially underground with no
windows. Closets have been converted into office space. The "war
room," which must accommodate up to 75 to 80 people during an emergency
allows for standing room only - a difficult working condition during a high-stress,
detail-orientated time.
Communications supervisor Maria Sitterson has worked at the EOC for 23
years.
"You're right on top
of each other," Sitterson said, "when you're trying to do your
job."