After more than three decades at the Eudora Welty Library, Hinds County officials are looking to relocate the emergency operations center.
“Just about every day we’re looking for a new building. It’s an ongoing project,” said Emergency Management Director Ricky Moore.
The center is currently located in the basement of the Welty branch downtown. It houses a dispatch center for the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department and houses communications equipment for the cities of Byram and Clinton, as well as AMR and the Mississippi Highway Patrol.
The center moved to Welty 36 years ago, only a couple of years after Jackson purchased the building in 1978.
The library was formerly a Sears Department store.
Since then, the building has deteriorated. Last fall, the state fire marshal temporary closed the facility due to safety violations.
The library itself has been partially reopened, but the second floor is still off limits to the public.
In the basement, there are other problems.
“We have a roof that leaks. Some of that (water) comes down the stairwell. We have some sewer pump issues. When the 1946 sewer lift station went out, the city couldn’t get parts and (it) had to be retrofitted,” Moore said. “(Some mornings) we have sewer odor in the building when we walk in.”
Moore said finding a new location for the EOC is a challenge. Any existing building must be in a central location, and also must be renovated to protect the center in the event of a disaster.
“You can’t be an EOC and get blown away too,” he said.
A new building would likely be costly to construct.
“We don’t have a ballpark figure. It depends on how hardened we make it, where the land is, and whether (we use) an existing building.
“Mobile just built a 30,000 square-foot (EOC) for $10 million. We were looking at 15,000 to 20,000 square feet.
“We’re trying to get preliminary figures - get the pros and cons of renovating or building,” he said.
Any project would likely be a challenge for the cash-strapped county, which recently had to raise ad valorem taxes to balance the budget.
“It’s something we work on daily. We’ve been here for 36 years. This building has served its purpose. That’s what we want, another place to give us 30 or 40 years.”
