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COLORADO COUNTY, Texas — Renovations to the new Colorado County Emergency Operations Center soon will be underway, thanks in part to a $24,503 grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority.
The community grant, along with $54,539 in matching funds from Colorado County, will help renovate the center as it moves to an unoccupied county building on Old Altair Road. The center provides a site for first responders and governmental agencies to work together and coordinate responses during emergencies.
“These improvements send a strong message to our community that we are prepared, and we are looking to the future,” said Charles Rogers, emergency management coordinator. “Following flooding events like Hurricane Harvey, our county hosted state and federal response teams, and our previous space was much smaller, so it was easily overwhelmed. With this new center we will be able to strengthen coordination between our local law enforcement, fire departments and EMS, which will lead to quicker response times.”
The grant will fund renovations such as adding security features and replacing outdated carpeting and lighting, as well as making technology upgrades that Rogers says are necessary for a fully operational emergency operations center.
“Our technology and A/V systems were originally installed in 2005, so they are outdated,” Rogers said. “The current system can’t even support modern communication platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and they have suffered repeated failures and replacements in recent years.”
LCRA General Manager Phil Wilson said having an up-todate Emergency Operations Center, or EOC, is critical in developing, coordinating and directing emergency responses.
“Every minute counts in an emergency, so having the various agencies together in the same place can save valuable time as officials assess available resources and deploy them where they are needed,” Wilson said. “We use our EOC at LCRA regularly, and I know from firsthand experience how important it is to have the parties together coordinating responses in the same room.”
Wilson also applauded Colorado County for upgrading the technology that will be available in the new center.
“Having real-time information available is crucial in determining what needs to be done as responders work to protect life and property,” he said.
The center also functions as a secondary operations coordination site for neighboring counties and external agencies and provides a site for trainings and community meetings.
“Thanks to this grant we’re going to be able to bring our emergency operations center online in a matter of months instead of years,” Rogers said. “We’re not starting from scratch, we’re repurposing a county building that has been vacant, so we’ll more quickly be able to jump in and serve Colorado County and provide a center for surrounding counties when they’re dealing with a storm or other active crisis.”
This is one of 41 grants awarded recently through LCRA Community Grants. These grants are awarded twice a year as part of LCRA’s effort to give back to communities in its wholesale electric, water and transmission service areas.
Applications for the next round of grants will be accepted in January. More information is available at lcra.org/grants.
