Will County celebrates completion of two new buildings

Animal Control and EMA Equipment Garage open as part of the largest capital plan in the county’s history

On Thursday, March 5, officials from Will County celebrated the opening of two new state of the art buildings on the county’s Public Safety Complex at Laraway and Cherry Hill Roads.

“We are proud of these buildings and how they will help us continue to serve the residents of Will County,” said Will County Executive Larry Walsh. “Consolidating these services on this campus will shorten the county’s emergency response time and enable us to share resources when appropriate.”

The 11,000-square feet storage facility with house the county’s Emergency Management Agency vehicles. Currently, the agency has these vehicles stored in leased space in various locations across the county.

“This purpose built garage will strengthen the efficiency of the EMA department because as we all know, in an emergency seconds count and having these vehicles in one location will improve our response time,” said Harold Damron, EMA director.

Animal Control’s new 6,000-square feet building will allow the department to improve its services and accommodate the county’s projected growth over the next ten years. Animal Control has leased office space in New Lenox for the past twenty years. Both of these new buildings will save the county money on future lease charges.

“We are a fee-driven agency,” said Dr. L.P. Schild, director of the Animal Control Department. “This building was constructed with revenue from the fees we have generated from our services, without using any taxpayer dollars, and will serve our county for many years to come.”

For more information on these agencies, visit the website: www.willcountyillinois.com.

Ribbon Cutting Cutting for the Animal Control Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Will County Animal Control building (March 5, 2020).

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for EMA Ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Will County EMA building. Pictured is the Will County Executive’s staff, Will County EMA and Animal Control staff, and Will County Board members (March 5, 2020).