When completed, the McAlester office will serve as the hub for emergency management services for all of southeastern Oklahoma — basically everything south of Interstate 40 and east of Interstate 35.
The building would also serve as local headquarters for the McAlester/Pittsburg County Office of Emergency Management — allowing personnel with the agency to move out of their current headquarters in the oft-flooded basement of the Pittsburg County Justice Center. Plans call for the building to also include office space for the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management and the Choctaw Nation Office of Emergency Management.
Although the plans aren’t yet finalized, Pittsburg County commissioners discussed the project during a special Monday meeting in their capacity as trustees of the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority. Plans are to construct the new building on a vacant lot the county already owns near the Pittsburg County Animal Shelter and the Oklahoma State University Extension Center.
McAlester/Pittsburg County Emergency Management Director Kevin Enloe said he has been in discussion with Architects in Partnership, a Norman company also known as AIP, which is working on a preliminary plan for the proposed facility. Specific design information is not yet available from the architectural firm, he said.
“They’re still working with the information we gave them,” Enloe said.
“We don’t have any kinds of numbers or any square footage yet?” asked District 2 Commissioner Kevin Smith. Enloe confirmed that’s the case.
Following the meeting, Smith said AIP is the same firm that provided architectural services for the current Pittsburg County Courthouse, Pittsburg County Justice Center, the Pittsburg County Animal Shelter and the Oklahoma State University Extension Center in McAlester.
The project is being taken in steps.
County commissioners asked AIP to complete a preliminary design for a building ranging from 8,000 to 15,000 square feet, with different projected costs for differing amounts of square footage. Once commissioners get a better idea of the cost, they’ll be able to make a better decision about the size of the proposed facility, Smith said.
One of the questions is how much of the building would be “hardened” to withstand an F5 tornado or other calamities. The part of the building housing command center offices, for example, would have to be “hardened” so the command center would remain in place following a disaster. However, parts of the building that would be used for storage of equipment, such as generators, would not have to be constructed to such stringent standards.
Paying for the new regional center shouldn’t be a problem — since it will require no new taxes nor a bond issue, according to Smith. He said the commissioners already have the money available.
“It will be paid for out of economic development funds,” said Smith, referring to money overseen by the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority, the entity on which the county commissioners serve as trustees.
Smith said the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority currently has approximately $3.5 million in the bank, which includes money left over from the aforementioned projects — some tax money that didn’t have to be spent and funds from other sources, including administrative fees paid to the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority over the past decade.
County commissioners said they’ve already checked on whether they can spend the funds for the project.
“We visited with Brent Clark,” said Smith, referring to the lawyer who served as bond attorney for the previous projects. Smith said Clark told him the money could be spent “as long as it benefits the public.”
Since the commissioners are in approval of the project and the money is available, the project appears a certainty. It will be one of only four regional emergency management centers in the state, Enloe said, with the others at Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Norman.
“Yes, we are going to build a building, “ Smith said. He said the commissioners talked about purchasing an existing building, but by the time all of the required upgrades would be added, it would be less expensive to construct a new one.
One of the buildings the commissioners looked into buying is the former Federal Aviation Center building the city owns at McAlester Regional Airport — but the city and county could not reach an agreement for that purchase.
The new building will also figure into Pittsburg County’s plan for Continuing of Operations, known as COOP. In the event the courthouse would blow away, for example, the new Regional Emergency Management Center could serve as a temporary courthouse, according to Enloe. The same would serve true for City Hall.
Having the McAlester office serve as a regional emergency management hub for southeastern Oklahoma does not mean county personnel will be dispatched to emergencies throughout the region.
If, for example, a disaster occurred in McCurtain County, near the Texas border, state Emergency Management personnel could travel to McAlester to help stage the response.
“Oklahoma City is a long way from Idabel,” Enloe noted. McAlester is much closer.
Enloe is looking forward to seeing the Regional Emergency Management Center building completed.
“It’s a big honor for us to have it here,” he said.
District 1 Pittsburg County Commissioner Gene Rogers agreed.
“I think it’s beneficial to southeastern Oklahoma,” he said.
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