Franklin County Commissioners this month agreed to negotiate with the engineering firm Dewberry to design a new Emergency Operations Center for the county

Franklin County Commissioners this month agreed to negotiate with the engineering firm Dewberry to design a new Emergency Operations Center for the county.

The county has about 200 thousand dollars in grant money for engineering and design services and once that is complete the county will need to find construction money to actually build the building.

A new EOC has been a top priority for the county for a number of years.

The current EOC building is located at the Apalachicola airport – it used to belong to the National weather service but was converted to Emergency Management use when the weather service moved to Tallahassee.

The aging building needs to be replaced – its almost 50 years old, it is too small for an EOC and its located is in a flood zone.

Franklin County is the only coastal county in the panhandle that does not have a new EOC and after Hurricane Michael the need for a new building is even more obvious.

The county is seeking construction funds from the legislature and hope the program will be funded next year.

If not, the county does have a million dollars in BP oil spill money that could be used if necessary, though the county has other needed projects it would like to use that money for.

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