PJ looks to add emergency command center to DPW site

Port Jefferson village is looking to use a New York State Dormitory Authority grant to install a new emergency command center extension to the Department of Public Works’ storage facility.

The board voted unanimously to approve the $450,000 grant to put an extension on the left-hand side of the DPW maintenance and storage facility. 

The village voted to approve the grant at its Sept. 3 meeting, saying it could lose access to those funds should it not meet deadlines. According to Interim Village Clerk Barbara Sakovich, the project is still in the early planning stages.

At the Sept. 3 meeting, village officials talked about a 20- by 10-foot addition to the left side of the DPW building on North Country Road. Mayor Margot Garant said she wished to install emergency equipment in the facility along with the new addition.

“If we don’t do this, we’re going to lose the whole $450,000,” she said.  

Nicole Christian, the Port Jefferson grant writer, said she has already finalized the paperwork for the grant and has sent it up to Albany. 

The command center is going to allow communications during a public emergency including storm events or any other natural disaster, according to Christian. It should allow communications with any emergency rescue units that shows up at the scene.

Alison LaPointe, the special village attorney for building and planning, said the plans for the site are still in their conceptual stage, and they are working with architects to hammer out details on site plans.

“The village is in the process of engaging an architect to work out the plan in terms of size and facilities,” she said in an email. 

The village has not yet put any funds forward or gone out to bid on the project as it awaits confirmation of the grant funds from the dormitory authority.

*Editor’s note: Nicole Christian recently joined the TBR News Media staff as a proofreader. Her duties with the paper are separate from her work with the village.