Published: October 15, 2008 12:09 am            

Construction under way on EMA building

Like a giant jigsaw puzzle, employees of C&Z Construction are putting the new Howard County Emergency Management Agency building together.

The original building on Berkley Road was destroyed by fire in March 2007.

After months of working on a design and trying to bring down the costs, Howard County commissioners in August awarded a $1,006,574 contract to C&Z Construction to construct the new building.

Steel was delivered on Friday, and crews were working Tuesday to piece together the structure’s metal skeleton. Eventually, the sides and roof will be covered in metal.

The new building will be an 80-by-300 foot steel building, with bays for parking 35 vehicles and office, training and storage space.

Foreman Mark Mills gingerly lifted one of the side support beams into place while workers bolted it onto concrete footers.

“It’ll take a couple of weeks to finish with the frame,” Mills said. “The entire building will be completed in six to eight weeks.”

Mills said most of the work arrives with the steel pieces numbered and ready to put into place.

“It’s a big jigsaw puzzle,” he said. “It all snaps together.”

Once work on the outside frame and roof are completed, the concrete floor will be poured.

Mills said the concrete is poured last so it won’t be damaged when the steel is placed.

Howard County received $413,000 from its insurance carrier as a result of the fire and the county council approved an appropriation of $500,000 from the Cumulative Capital Development Fund.

For the past few months, EMA has been leasing the former Button Motors property in downtown Kokomo. EMA uses a heated facility to store some of its emergency equipment, particularly ambulances and tanker trucks.

The original design provided for two buildings, which would have allowed for inside storage of all the EMA vehicles, with an estimated cost of $2 million.

The final design is for the construction of one building and will allow for the storage of some Highway Department vehicles and damaged sheriff department patrol cars.

EMA director Larry Smith said the new building meets the needs of the department.

“The office space will be sufficient, and we can get the vehicles we need inside the bays,” he said.

Ken de la Bastide can be reached at (765) 454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com

        

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