Public safety personnel in any agency eagerly anticipate the opening of a new facility. But for those working in Springfield, Mo., the 2012 dedication of the FEMA 361-rated Greene County Public Safety Center occurred when they needed it most: during tornado season.
The opening of that new center coincided with a first-anniversary reminder of the need for such a reinforced design. In May 2011, an EF-5 (the highest intensity) tornado gutted the city of Joplin, located only 72 miles to the southwest of Springfield.
“Our hearts go out to Joplin,” said Chris Coulter, director of resource management in Greene County, the fourth-most populous in Missouri, with 275,000 residents. “Knowing that this could happen again, that future potential, is humbling.”
Construction for the $19.7 million project was well underway before the Joplin tornado, spurred in part by an eighth-cent sales tax enacted in 2007. The 56,000-SF center was designed not only to withstand the most intense of tornadic winds, but also to deflect the wind-driven missiles within those storms. Heavy steel and 16″ thick walls firmly anchor the structure into the solid, Ozark bedrock, providing protection to the communications nucleus of Greene County: Springfield / Greene County 9-1-1 and the county’s Office of Emergency Management.
Prior to the new facility opening, both agencies operated in different structures. Springfield / Greene County 9-1-1, which handles communications for law enforcement, fire-rescue and public works, was based in a split-level structure that was “not at all efficient for operations,” said J.R. Webb, assistant director of Springfield / Greene County 9-1-1. The OEM was in a 105-year-old structure that used to be a candy factory—not stable enough to withstand a minor-intensity tornado, let alone an EF-5. “We needed to upgrade.”
Funding any improvement, already difficult in a tough economy, is trickier in Missouri. It is the last state that does not receive cell phone reimbursement. Greene County communicators handled nearly 220,000 calls to 9-1-1 last year, and more than 70% of them were wireless.
“We’re seeing a steady increase, not only in our call volume, but in the percentage of calls that are being made by wireless devices,” Webb said, adding that 2011 would be a record-breaker.
He anticipated that the center’s 53 communications personnel would handle a total of 500,000 calls (both 9-1-1 and administrative) by the beginning of 2012.
The biggest financial boost came for Greene County in 2007, with passage of the sales tax. As monies were saved for the upgrade, it became evident that hoped-for cell phone reimbursement would not happen anytime soon. So, Greene County leaders sought assistance to get further funding through other means. In addition to the annual $1 million accrual from the sales tax, the county succeeded in obtaining a $1 million FEMA grant; a $450,000 Department of Energy grant and $300,000 Energy Efficiency grant for sustainable materials; and $1.1 million in COPS grants for technology.
“We are very fortunate,” Coulter said. “This is going to be quite a facility, and it will serve not only Greene County, but the entire region. Southwest Missouri should be very proud of what’s being put in here.”
With the building’s environmentally friendly design, Coulter and Webb hoped for a LEED Silver rating for the structure, which the facility successfully earned. It was designed with redundant water and power systems and a green roof that assists not only with rainwater collection, but also help the structure maintain its temperature.
The new three-story center was designed by Florida-based Architects Design Group and Springfield-based Pellham Phillips Architects Engineers. Majority of construction was sourced locally (Springfield-based DeWitt & Associates is managing construction, and many other local contractors were used).
The facility’s bottom floor (a rare basement in a region where bedrock often prevents their construction) houses the county’s OEM and more than 100 emergency managers. The structure’s first floor primarily houses administrative offices and an encircling walkway where personnel can peer down into the open OEM. The new 9-1-1 center will be on the second floor, which will cover that open interior while providing a much more spacious—but no less reinforced—facility for comm center personnel. The new comm center will be laid out in a pod system, with an elevated supervisory pod in the center.
All windows in the building are made with specially engineered glass that is reinforced by perforated, metal sheeting that still allows those in the building to see outside. The center also will have a three-bay garage to help protect the county’s portable equipment, including Skylab, the mobile communications center that was among hundreds of emergency vehicles racing to Joplin after the tornado.
Springfield / Greene County 9-1-1 workers were really looking forward to moving into the new facility as they had input on its design from the very beginning, Webb says. Additionally, the center was designed to have a full kitchen that can be converted to a cafeteria when the OEM is in use, as well as showers and enough bunk facilities that the center can function as its own city within a city during a crisis. But managers are not just focusing on the furnishings. There will be a walkout patio running the entire length of the center and quiet areas specifically set aside for comm center workers to step away.
“We’ve tried to provide peace of mind, not only for their security, but also [so they can] decompress after a rough shift or rough call,” Coulter says.
Update: 2020. Click here to view the original publication.
