The Cape Coral Emergency Management Building was built in 1999. The city's population has more than doubled from back then. Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Ryan Lamb said they need more money from the state to expand the facility to keep up with all that growth.
Lamb said the city isn't asking for luxury updates, but rather to have enough space so workers can do their job.
"This is the central nervous system of the city during an emergency or a disaster," Lamb said. "The emergency operations center serves as a coordination center for all the different elements that the city's essential services need to continue to function."
During Hurricane Ian, about 150 people worked inside this building, and Lamb said space was tight.
"This room during activation is literally elbow to elbow," Lamb said while showing NBC2 the operations room. "One of the things we learned in Hurricane Ian was there simply just isn't a lot of space."
Lamb also showed NBC2 where crews answered 911 calls. He said it's about 10 times smaller than their primary 911 center.
"Doing those emergency calls for police and fire in this compact area is difficult. During Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Ian, we had to activate this space," he said.
The kitchen also gets crowded. With only two refrigerators and a couple of pantries, Lamb said there's not enough storage space. During Ian, people like Lamb ate and cooked there every day for a month.
"And again, this is a group of people that we've told that it's part of their employment, that they're not allowed to leave," he said.
Lamb said the bathroom situation is also an issue. During Ian, the facility had a sign-up sheet for when people could take showers, and they could only be five minutes long.
"We only have two showers for men and two showers for women. I think we have four toilets for women and three toilets for men. So when you have 100 people here, it's very difficult," he said.
All of this is why the city of Cape Coral is asking the state for $9 million to expand the facility. The state already gave the city $9 million last year. Lamb estimates the total project will cost around $28 million. They aim to get it done in three years. The goal is to match the Cape's growth and fit 300 workers inside.
"If we were to do a much smaller renovation or expansion now, in a couple of years we would need to expand again. So we want to make sure that we right size this response to maximize the tax dollars that we have, but also provide the best value to our residents and the services we provide," Lamb said.
However, an independent review of Florida's budget is criticizing the request. Last week, Florida TaxWatch released its 2024 Budget Turkey Watch Report. It recommended that Gov. Ron DeSantis veto the $9 million set to go toward the Cape Coral Emergency Operations Center Expansion.
In the report, it states:
"Florida TaxWatch has recommended that the use of supplemental appropriations lists, or "sprinkle lists" be discontinued. It has become tradition, as the very last step in the budget process, for the House and Senate to exchange lists that add hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funding to the budget with no public or transparent discussion or debate."
If the governor vetoes the funding, Lamb said it will likely slow down the construction process.
You can count on ABC7 to keep you updated on what the governor decides.