An additional $42.7 million is being sought for a new state Emergency Operations Center, after the cost was announced at $180 million during a groundbreaking ceremony in September.
Division of Emergency Management Chief of Staff Luke Strickland told the House Infrastructure & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee on Thursday the money is needed for “technology infrastructure.”
The request will be considered during the 2024 legislative session, which will begin Jan. 9.
“Thanks to past investments by the Legislature, the state has been able to move forward with groundbreaking on the new EOC,” Strickland said. “We’re requesting this funding in order to be able to complete the build-out of the new EOC by our 2025 move-in date.”
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The 2021-2022 state budget included $100 million for planning, design, site acquisition, permitting and construction for the facility, which is being built near the current Emergency Operations Center in Leon County. An additional $80 million was put into the 2022-2023 budget for construction.
The building will more than double the space for emergency and relief-agency workers and is projected to withstand winds up to 200 mph.
The current 27-year-old facility is built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane, which is met when maximum sustained winds reach 111 mph. Strickland said the Division of Emergency Management moved some staff members out of the region in late August when Hurricane Idalia approached the Big Bend area.
“When Hurricane Italia rapidly intensified into a Category 4 and moved towards Tallahassee, it was too late to evacuate operations,” Strickland said. “We made the decision to keep working in Tallahassee with our core team. And we sent a secondary team to the Escambia County EOC to continue the work if we lost operational ability in Tallahassee.”
Idalia ultimately made landfall in Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee.
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