Changes are on the way for Warren County Emergency Management as Warren Fiscal Court magistrates on Thursday approved the nearly $2 million purchase of a building at 2325 Airway Court that will serve as the new home for Warren County Emergency Management, something department head Ronnie Pearson said will help the county respond to crises more effectively.

“The importance of the emergency operations center is coordination,” Pearson told magistrates. “As the city and county have grown … our emergencies are growing.”

Warren County EM is currently housed within the Warren County Regional Jail, which also houses the Warren County Drug Task Force.

When a multi-day weather event caused widespread flooding across the city and county earlier this month, a temporary operations center was set up at the former Charles M. Moore Insurance building, which the county bought in January.

The property bought this week was purchased by KYCORE LLC in 2012 and consists of an almost 7,000-square-foot warehouse-style building situated on a 2.52 acre lot near the Bowling Green-Warren County Regional Airport, according to an appraisal sent to the county.

The building itself features 2,826 square feet of office space, and outside, an approximately 40,000 square-foot yard that the appraisal states could be used for outside storage.

Pearson told magistrates the building’s location would be important in the event of a large-scale emergency.

“If we have a large-scale emergency (where) we need to fly patients in and out, we’ll be right there at the airport,” he said. “We want to make sure that we’re prepared for training and education of our responders and our citizens for the next 50 years.”

Three million dollars in grant funding has been secured for the building, which will cover upgrades and renovations to get it ready. Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman told the Daily News the grant will not cover the purchase cost.

Gorman said the county is expected to close on the site in the next few weeks, and said a storm shelter is being planned for the site as well.

“It’s a large piece of property, so it gives us room for the public to come out to the storm shelter,” Gorman said.

The grant carries a July 2026 deadline, however Gorman anticipates work will be finished before that date.

“We’re going to try to fast track this and get some people out there and get it rolling,” he said.

Magistrates also approved more than $120,000 in repairs to electric infrastructure and recreational areas at Basil Griffin Park that experienced damage during the flooding event earlier this month.

Repair bills at the park include:

• Fuse boxes and wiring for lighting systems, $10,800;
• Resurfacing and crack repair on the park’s inline hockey rink, $21,000;
• Resurfacing and crack repair on the park’s tennis courts, $24,000, and
• Resurfacing and crack repair on the park’s pickleball courts, $67,000.

Gorman told magistrates that the county will pursue flood insurance claims on the damage.

“We’ve had to take portable lighting out there because the electrics are destroyed,” he told the Daily News after the meeting. “But pretty quickly, we’ll be able to get back to full business.”

Fiscal court will meet again May 8.