Will County opens new animal control, emergency facilities
Will County’s Animal Control Department and Emergency Management Agency have new homes.
County officials Thursday gathered at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the two new buildings. The facilities, located on the same campus as the sheriff ’s office and transportation division, are the latest to be completed in the county’s ongoing building program.
“This is another exciting day in Will County,” said county board member Herb Brooks, D-Joliet, who also heads the board’s capital improvement committee.
Will County’s Emergency Management Agency moved part of its operations into a new facility that has a large garage to store all of its emergency vehicles, including the agency’s state of the art traveling command center, in one location. The facility also features a classroom that will be used for training sessions for volunteers and other agencies.
The county’s EMA is responsible to coordinate responses for emergency and disaster situations as well as handle emergency preparedness and planning. Having the agency’s vehicles under one roof, rather than scattered between two different locations, will help make responding to emergency situations a bit smoother, said EMA Director Harold Damron.
“Every resident in this county should rest assured knowing that if anything should happen we’re fully prepared for a response,” said Ray Tuminello, RNew Lenox and vice chair of the county board’s Capital
Improvements Committee, which oversees county building projects.
Animal control’s move from a leased facility in New Lenox to a countyowned building will eliminate $46,000 in lease payments annually, officials said. At. 6,000 square feet, the new building also has nearly triple the space of the department’s former 2,159-square-foot building.
Most notably, animal control services now has a garage to store its vehicles. Though animal control works with outside agencies to house stray pets, the new facility does include areas to keep pets overnight in the event of an emergency, said Animal Control Services Director Leroy Schild.
Schild also said the new building has expanded office space and provides a more open work area for employees.
“It has created an identity for us,” Schild said.
“The atmosphere here has elevated the spirit of our our employees.”
Schild said the $3 million facility was paid for through fees collected by the animal control center, which also cover operating expenses. Leftover fees through the years were placed into an animal control fund and ultimately paid for the new building.
He said being on the same campus as the sheriff’s office makes technology more accessible for his department. Animal Control Services took in just under 700 stray pets last year and investigated more than 1,400 animal bites, Schild said.
The department also offers financial assistance to Will County residents for spaying or neutering their pets. Schild hopes to eventually develop a similar program to encourage pet owners to have their pets microchipped.
The county embarked on a building program more than four years ago. The first building, completed in 2017, was the Will County Sheriff’s Office, a $29 million facility located off Laraway Road in Joliet. The county also is constructing a new courthouse and public health building. In all, the county’s building program will cost $265 million, with the courthouse being the most expensive at $205 million.
The county expects to open it’s $31 million Public Health Department building later this spring, doubling the space of the existing 35,000-squarefoot health facility.
A new 10-story courthouse is expected to be completed this fall which will be more than double the size of the existing courthouse and include 38 courtrooms, bringing both civil and criminal proceedings under one roof.