County accepts bids for nearly $5 million for new Emergency Management Office

File photo by Tom Rivers: The current emergency management office was built as an early 1960s bomb shelter. It has a leaking roof and a shortage of space.

ALBION – The Orleans County Legislature approved about $5 million in construction bids today for a new Emergency Management Office.

The new building will be one-story and 7,700 square feet. It was downsized from a proposal for a 17,000-square-foot building. Initially county officials sought a new building that was 11,000 square feet for offices and classrooms, and another 5,600 square feet for equipment storage. That complex would have topped $12 million.

The county has been awarded a $2 million federal grant secured by U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The county may be able to pay off the remaining amount from its existing funds, or it may need to borrow some money to complete the project, said County Chief Administrative Officer Jack Welch.

The construction bids approved today include $3,931,000 for general construction by the Watson Construction Group Inc. of Albion; $360,000 for plumbing/fire protection by McGrain Mechanical of Rochester; and $547,500 to McGrain Mechanical of Rochester for HVAC.

The new building will be west of the current structure that is 8,000 square feet – 80 by 100 feet. Most of the current EMO building is underground. It isn’t handicapped accessible and is tight on space.

County officials eventually want to have that building demolished but that isn’t part of the construction bids approved today.

The new building will include offices for the EMO’s three full-time staff, a classroom for training for firefighters and other first responders, and space to have the backup 911 dispatch system.

The county also is looking to take down two radio towers – one is 485 feet tall and the other is 225 feet – and replace them with two towers. Welch said there should be state funding to help remove the towers and put up the new ones in a project separate from the new building.

Construction is anticipated to start on the new building in July.