Finally, a place to call home

County officials hope the ninth move in 20 years will be the last one for the EMA.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
FTER YEARS OF BEING SHUFFLED among various buildings, the Mahoning County Emergency Management Agency and its three-person staff are nomads no more.
The agency is getting ready to move into a new, $550,000 building on Industrial Road, in a complex of buildings that includes the county dog warden, sanitary engineer and highway engineer's offices.
"This brings an end to our somewhat nomadic existence," Director Walter Duzzny said of the West Side site.
The agency's move into the new building, scheduled to take place in about two weeks, will be its eighth move during Duzzny's 20-year tenure as director.
"I hope it's the last one," Duzzny said.
On the move
When Duzzny first started, the agency was in offices on West Boardman Street, a building that is now the county administration building.
Since then, it has been moved to the South Side Annex on Market Street, an office building on South Avenue and the basement of the county courthouse, back to the administration building and then into the county justice center on Fifth Avenue.
When budget cuts forced closure of the minimum-security jail at Fifth Avenue and Commerce Street in 1999, the agency moved into offices on the second floor of that building.
But when the jail was later reopened, the agency was forced to leave, moving back to the South Side Annex in the city's Uptown District, where it still is located.
New building
The one-story building includes a four-bay vehicle storage area and about 4,000 square feet of office space for the EMA and the county's hazardous materials response team, which will also be housed there.
It will include all radio and communication equipment necessary for handling a crisis, and a room that will be set up as a command post in the event of a disaster.
It also has a backup power source so that a blackout won't affect the ability to work there, Duzzny said.
"This is more than a building," Duzzny said. "For us, it's a nerve center."
Commissioner Ed Reese said the building will provide stability for the disaster services and HazMat agencies.
"I think that with this building, we're better prepared now than ever before in the event of a crisis situation," he said.
Terrorist threats
That stability is more important now than ever, with the country's emphasis on homeland security, Duzzny said. The building will be used as a site for training local emergency responders for dealing with terrorist threats and attacks.
County Administrator Gary Kubic said people often tend to dismiss the threat of terrorism in this area. That is not a responsible posture for government officials, he said.
"You can't assume that things won't happen. You have to assume that that they will happen, and you have to be ready when they do," he said.
Kubic is especially pleased that the HazMat team, which is made of up volunteers from several area fire departments, finally has a place to call home. Until now, the agency has stored its equipment in rented garage space on Southern Boulevard in Boardman.
The HazMat squad is a division of the EMA and responds to incidents involving hazardous materials, such as chemical spills.
The building was originally supposed to have been completed a year ago, but construction was delayed because of a zoning issue.
County officials assumed the land was zoned for industrial use and suitable for such a building, but found out just before construction was to begin that it was actually zoned residential.
The county then had to apply for a zone change, which was opposed by neighbors who feared the EMA headquarters would bring increased traffic and noise. The change was granted by the city earlier this year.
bjackson@vindy.com