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July 1, 2008

Money at issue on EMA move

Airport an option; mayor wants city owned building

By Howard Greninger

TERRE HAUTE — Vigo County’s Emergency Management Agency needs a new location because its present building, constructed in 1875 then rebuilt in 1938 at Fourth and Farrington streets, is literally leaking and crumbling.

County commissioners and Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, as well as representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field, met Tuesday at the FAA’s facility at the airport.

At issue is how to pay for EMA’s presence in the building, which is owned by the airport. Airport Director Tom Long said the FAA is the only tenant of the building, renting space for $8.20 per square foot. Should the EMA move into that building, it must match that rent as the FAA requires a fair market price. The airport, while represented by the city and county on its Airport Authority, is a separate taxing unit.

The FAA pays $84,000 a year for the 10,000 square-foot building. The EMA would use about 5,200 square feet, which would cost about $42,000 a year. However, with training courses and other services offered from EMA, that amount could be lowered, Long said.

Other sites, such as the Vigo County Annex and a building at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds have been considered, but lack state and federal requirements.

EMA Director Dr. Dorene Hojnicki said the FAA building is the most ideal location for the department and has many needed requirements, such as a generator and a concrete-block building.

Hojnicki is applying for up to a $250,000 renovation grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant has a three-week window for its application, Hojnicki said, stressing the need for a new location for the EMA department.

A committee of the County Council on Friday gave approval for Hojnicki to pursue the grant, which would require a 25 percent match — $62,500 — from the county.

Hojnicki said the FAA approached the EMA in February 2007 about locating in the airport building for use as the EMA’s center of operations. Dennis Griffin, manager of the FAA’s System Support Center at the airport, said security measures, such as a dividing wall, must be installed. That work would start in September, with completion on Oct. 10. The EMA could then move into the building, pending a lease between the FAA and the airport.

Hojnicki sought the meeting Tuesday to bring all parties together, saying the process of finding a new location has been going on for 15 months, and asking a decision be reached “so it is not another 15 months.”

Mayor Bennett said he thinks the EMA needs a new operations center, referring to such centers in Vermillion and Parke counties, which he called state-of-the-art.

“I know the federal government paid for all that. That is the right approach, but since we have to do it ourselves, we have to find a way to make it taxpayer friendly. We need to get moving in that direction, what [EMA] has is not sufficient, I understand that,” Bennett said.

The mayor, however, said he prefers the city own a building rather than pay rent, referring to the city’s Police Department office that is currently rented, a measure he said must stop. He said paying $40,000 a year in rent in the long term would equal the cost of a new building, but without ownership.

Bennett said the city in the worst case could be paying $20,000 annually plus a split in utilities with the county. If that is the case, the mayor said the financing must be worked into the city 2009 budget.

“Next year, I have to cut $2 million out of the city budget, so I am not looking at additions, but subtractions,” he said. Still, Bennett said he could provide some funds this year to help the EMA. The cut in the city budget next year is from projections of less income as a result of property tax controls passed by the Indiana General Assembly.

Long said the city could further reduce its costs by providing firefighting protection to the airport, a service the airport is now paying.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.

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