NEW EMERGENCY OPS CENTER TO IMPROVE CLATSOP COUNTY’S CAPABILITIES

The installation of a new, dedicated Emergency Operations Center will enable Clatsop County to deal with major emergencies with the flip of a switch.

The county board of commissioners voted Wednesday to authorize up to $166,667 in funding for the project, which will construct a wing on Warrior Hall at Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center for the exclusive use of the county as a communications hub during emergency events.

The addition will house emergency communications equipment that was previously acquired by the county but which currently has no permanent site.

In 2006 the county signed an agreement with the Oregon Military Department to locate the county’s Emergency Operations Center at Camp Rilea’s Warrior Hall. The new location was designed to provide a secure site away from hazard zones where county officials could coordinate responses to major emergencies with local, state and federal agencies and other partners.

The agreement gave the county use of a room at the facility, but the space has proven to be too small, and the arrangement left the communications equipment meant for the EOC stored in a closet, requiring time for set-up. With a new wing dedicated solely for the county’s use, the equipment can be left in place, meaning that the center can be activated on a moment’s notice, Perez said. It will also be far easier for the county to conduct training exercises with the various participants who would staff the EOC during an actual emergency.

The new facility will total about 1,050 square feet, and will be located immediately adjacent to the large briefing room in Warrior Hall to accommodate joint operations with the military. A separate free-standing tower will hold the EOC’s antennae.

“This communications wing is state of the art,” Perez said. “Our emergency managers will be able to communicate quickly and efficiently in a safe and secure environment.”

The project is estimated to cost approximately $500,000. The Emergency Management Division has obtained a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cover half the cost, as well as a commitment from the Oregon Wireless Interoperability Network (OWIN) to pick up one-third of the local match, or $88,333. The county’s $166,667 share will come out of its Special Projects Fund.

The board of commissioners voted unanimously for the project, but some raised concerns about the future of OWIN, which was recently the focus of scrutiny over cost overruns, missed deadlines and mismanagement associated with several of its projects across the state.

OWIN was launched by the Oregon Legislature in 2005 with the goal of modernizing the state’s aging emergency communications infrastructure and creating a linked statewide network of radio and microwave relay stations. But as of the end of 2010, few of the projects planned through the program, which had an initial price tag of $414 million, had begun, and questions have been raised about OWIN’s future in light of the state’s ongoing budget crisis.

Perez said OWIN’s current troubles should not jeopardize its promised funding for the Warrior Hall project. The project will not proceed until the county has completed a memorandum of understanding with the agency.