Bids in for Cape Girardeau County's new emergency building

A day after five people died as a result of a tornado in nearby Bollinger County, Missouri, bids from a quintet of local building contractors were opened Thursday, April 6, for Cape Girardeau County's planned new emergency operations center (EOC) -- a building designed to resist tornadic-level winds.

County commissioners Clint Tracy, Paul Koeper and Charlie Herbst are expected to award the EOC project at the group's regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, April 13.

Total bids (lowest to highest)

• $4,873,843, Sides Construction, Jackson
• $4,914,600, Kiefner Brothers, Cape Girardeau
• $5,005,955, Penzel Construction, Jackson
• $5,283,800, Zoellner Construction, Perryville, Missouri
• $5,383,000, Robinson Construction, Perryville, Missouri

Drilling down

• Current EOC location is the basement level of the county administration building at No. 1 Barton Square in Jackson.
• New quarters for county emergency management will be constructed at 3555 Veterans Memorial Drive in Cape Girardeau on a 6-acre site purchased by the county from Touchdown Development LLC. Location is better known as the southeast corner of Interstate 55 and LaSalle Avenue..
• Previously, commissioners had planned the EOC for county-owned property in Klaus Park but met with citizen opposition to the original site. Among the opponents was SEMO Mudcats, a local youth mountain biking team, which argued the structure would be disruptive of land the team has long used for its practices. On Dec. 13, the commission announced the new location on the Touchdown site.

Rationale

In November, Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Mark Winkler explained to commissioners the need for a set-aside EOC.

"Right now, [Office of Emergency Management] has some equipment -- some of its ours and some federal equipment assigned to us - and the real problem is it is scattered all over the county. We're trying to bring it all together to make it readily accessible at a moment's notice so we don't have to drive 15 miles one way to pick equipment or 10 mile another way. We're [also] trying to design the [new] building to withstand 200-mile-per-hour winds so it can resist any violent tornadic activity in a worst-case scenario," Winkler said.

Construction, according to previous Southeast Missourian reporting, is expected to begin this summer.