Emergency Operations Center
MISSOULA COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS & REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER BOND ELECTION INFORMATION
The Missoula County Office of Emergency Services provides and coordinates the Emergency Operations Center used by the Sheriff's Office, 9-1-1 Center, and other first response agencies in the city, county and region. The Emergency Operations Center offers a single command location from which to manage prolonged emergency events such as wildfire, chemical spills, or weather-related events.
Intensifying space, technology, and interoperability constraints over the past decade prompted the County to conduct a space needs assessment and develop options to pay for the design and construction of the Emergency Operations & Regional Training Center.
The cost of the new energy efficient facility, to be located on County owned land next to the Missoula County Detention Facility on Mullan Road, is approximately $23.5 million. However, due to the non-tax contributions from the County, federal earmarks, and other sources, the cost to taxpayers would be approximately $16 million.
Please click on any of the links to the left (or below) to learn more about the project. All links on the left menu are in "portable document format". Some links below open up Microsoft Word documents.
- Follow Up Questions - NEW!
- Tour the Current EOC
- Frequently Asked Questions (PDF)
- Frequently Asked Questions (HTML)
- Ballot Language (PDF)
- Plan Diagrams (PDF)
- Site Plan (PDF)
- Image Study (PDF)
- Tours Press Release (PDF)
- Tours Press Release (Microsoft Word)
- Bond Hearing Press Release (PDF)
- Bond Hearing Press Release (Microsoft Word)
Frequently Asked Questions
- Q: Why do we need the facility?
- A: Our existing emergency operations center no longer meets the needs of our growing county. It does not have enough space or adequate technology for us to deal effectively with the types of emergency situations Missoula County needs to be prepared for, such as wildland fire, pandemic flu and hazardous material accidents.
- Q: How much will this cost the average taxpayer?
- A: For a resident with a home valued at $200,000, the assessment would be approximately $27.82 per year.
- Q: Will it improve emergency services?
- A: Missoula County already has some of the fi nest emergency services in the state. This will help ensure the level of service we are accustomed to continues. The key to quick, effective emergency response, particularly in a large incident is the ability of the responders to communicate and work together as a team. This Emergency Operations Center, with more space and upgraded technology, will enable them to do that.
- Q: Why not just a smaller bond to upgrade the existing facility?
- A: The existing facility in the basement and on the third floor of the courthouse annex is at capacity and offers no room to expand. Additionally, the current site does not allow adequate space for emergency response vehicles or training facilities.
- Q: Why move the Sheriff’s Office? Isn’t the downtown courthouse location fine?
- A: The existing Sheriff’s Office is too small for the existing staff, lacks basic security measures and no longer has adequate space to retain important evidence and carry out other law enforcement and coroner functions. The new Emergency Operations Center would not only provide adequate space for the department, but it would co-locate the agency with the Missoula County Detention Facility and other emergency responders. Along with Missoula Correctional Services and the State of Montana Probation and Parole offices nearby, the addition of the EOC facility creates a public safety campus in the area.
- Q: Why is the County asking for this now?
- A: As a practical matter, high construction inflation will make this project more expensive in the future and market conditions show favorable interest rates at the current time. The chart below illustrates construction inflation on the proposed $23.5 million project.
- Q: How does this affect 9-1-1?
- A: Our current 9-1-1 dispatch center is in the basement of the courthouse annex. Space is confined and we are rapidly outgrowing it. The dispatch center would move into the new Emergency Operations Center that would provide the space and technology needed to better serve the growing county and meet federal and state requirements.
- Q: How can I learn more about this project?
- A: Tour the current Missoula County Emergency Operations Center, 9-1-1 Center and Sheriff’s Office any Tuesday at noon or Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Meet at the Information Desk off the Pine Street entrance in the Missoula County Courthouse Annex. We can accommodate additional tour times as well. Please call 258-3160 to make arrangements.
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