The Portage County Emergency Management Agency is proud to announce the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony of the county’s new Emergency Management Agency and Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. The new facility is located at 2978 S.R. 59 in Ravenna Township.
Visitors are invited to tour the center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Portage County Board of Commissioners, who funded the project through the American Rescue Plan Act Grant Program, will officially open the center for operation at 9 a.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“We would like to extend an invitation to Portage County residents as well as area first responders and all our colleagues and stakeholders to join us as we begin this new chapter in emergency operations in the county. We have been able to incorporate state-of-the-art technology in the new center which will strengthen our capabilities on a daily basis. It’s a significant advancement in public safety for our county,” said Ryan Shackelford, PCEMA director.
Hasenstab Architects of Akron designed the 6,120 square-foot building. The builder is Summit Construction Company, based in Akron. The project broke ground on August 14, 2023.
PCEMA, a department under the auspices of Portage County Commissioners, has occupied space in the building that houses the Portage County Sherrif’s Office since the early 90’s. As time passed, the need for updated space for emergency operations was clear, steering county officials to start planning for a facility dedicated to emergency management.
The new facility on S.R. 59 site will house EMA offices, the Emergency Operations Center which is the centralized coordination location for large emergencies or disasters, and garage space for vehicles, trailers and equipment for varies entities including specialty emergency response like HazMat, Collapse Search and Rescue, and Incident Management. The site previously housed the garage and storage for EMA.
The new center has centralized operations in the county and drastically increased coordination and communications which is imperative during emergencies.
