-- For immediate release --
 17,000-sq.-ft. facility to house regional emergency-response equipment
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and local leaders today celebrated the groundbreaking of a new northern Oakland County facility that will house disaster-relief equipment for southeast Michigan.
Taking part in the groundbreaking were Johnson, Sen. Dave Robertson, R-Grand Blanc, Rep. Joseph Graves, R-Argentine Township, Oakland County Commissioner Robert Hoffman, Groveland Township Supervisor Bob DePalma and other township officials.
“The new township building and its equipment will be a great
benefit for Groveland Township and northern Oakland County,” Secretary of
State Ruth Johnson said. “It’s great to know that this emergency response equipment
will be so close to home. I want to thank Supervisor DePalma and the other
township leaders for their work.”
The building will house equipment of the state Mutual
Aid Box Alarm System, which provides emergency and fire services resources in the event of natural or
man-made disasters statewide and in the Great Lakes region. Once built, the
17,000-square-foot warehouse will house equipment, such
as mobile hospitals, kitchens and generators. MABAS’ equipment now is housed at
the Pontiac-Oakland Airport. The new building, which will be located near the corner of Grange Hall Road and Dixie Highway, is expected to be operational by
late 2016.
The facility will be constructed on land that had once been slated to be a landfill but was opposed by township residents. Johnson got started in politics as a citizen activist opposed to the landfill so seeing the land developed for a purpose that will help the entire region was especially meaningful.
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 Secretary Johnson speaks during the groundbreaking for a new disaster-relief equipment storage facility in Groveland Township. She was joined by Sen. Dave Robertson (from left), township Clerk Pam Mazich, township Supervisor Bob DePalma, Oakland County Commissioner Robert Hoffman and Rep. Joseph Graves.
 State and local leaders break ground on a new 17,000-square-foot warehouse that will house equipment, such as mobile hospitals, kitchens and generators, in Groveland Township in northern Oakland County.
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