By CAROL SAKOWITZ
North Port Assistant Editor
Sarasota County, already planning for a new public safety center, will receive $300,000 in federal funding for the facility as part of the House fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act.
According to his office Thursday, U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, secured approval in the bill for those funds and another $200,000 for the city of Venice. The bill passed in the House Wednesday night, 389-37.
The FY 2010 appropriation is the second grant in two years for Sarasota County. Again spurred on by Buchanan, the House designated approximately $1 million for the county for FY09. The county is expected to receive that grant by October, according to Ed McCrane, county Emergency Management chief.
Reached on vacation in Georgia, Larry Arnold, executive director of community services, called the grant "great news."
Arnold said the county is reviewing a number of options regarding a public safety center -- including retrofitting or "hardening" -- the current County Administration Center on 1660 Ringling Blvd. Other sites under review include the county's 1301 Cattlemen Road facility and Twin Lakes Park, both in Sarasota.
The Cattlemen Road facility is scheduled to be vacated and, should the site be chosen for the public safety building, might be demolished to allow for new construction. The county currently is negotiating a scope-of-work agreement with Atlanta consultants Perkins+Will regarding a feasibility study of 1301 Cattlemen Road.
A complex in Twin Lakes Park also would require construction.
"We hope we would complete review and analysis and take recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners before or just after they return from their summer (August) vacation," Arnold said. A method of funding also would have to be discussed with the commissioners.
Arnold and McCrane both said the cost of a 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot public safety center would depend on what was put into it.
A new county center would be a partnership between three operations, Arnold and McCrane said: the 911 center (active 24 hours), the emergency operation center and the part of the data center. They estimate a Sarasota County center at between $10 million to $20 million, and Arnold said it could be completed within the next three to five years.
Currently, emergency services are housed in the county administration building, which can only withstand category 2 winds of 96-110 mph, McCrane said. A storm with a potential higher winds would force the entire emergency services operations to be moved to Wilkinson Elementary School in Sarasota.
An emergency services drill last year at Wilkinson indicated the facility would work as a backup. However, a storm that occurs during a school year could present a problem if the County Administration Center is damaged or destroyed, McCrane said.
The $200,000 earmarked for Venice will go to improvements to the Venice Community Center that would enable it to be used as a special needs public shelter. The center is managed by the county through an interlocal agreement with the city.
According to a statement from Buchanan's office, the city plans to harden the community center and to install an energy generation system to provide power during storms.
"We greatly appreciate Congressman Buchanan's help in securing federal funds to help us construct a new hurricane-hardened emergency operations center," County Commission Chair Jon Thaxton said in a statement. "Federal funds will be used to supplement local revenue to construct this badly needed emergency command center."
E-mail: csakowitz@sun-herald.com