Killer tornadoes have struck Utica, Ottawa, and Naplate. Flooding has become a frequent problem along the Illinois River. Fires are a perpetual threat.

La Salle County has had many all-hands-on-deck incidents. Fred Moore decided the time had come to invest in a resource to help with the next crisis, whenever that may be.

Moore, director of the La Salle County Emergency Management Agency, unveiled the “Mobile Operations & Communications Center.” At first blush, it lookslike a recreational vehicle used to dispense coffee at all-night emergency scenes. But Moore said the MOCC will serve as a command post during planned events as well as disasters.

“It’s not a matter of if something happens in La Salle County,” Moore said, “it’s when it happens.”

Moore had been pressing for a county-owned unit for three years and finally got the OK to order one in October 2024. County officials green-lit the $760,000 purchase and funded it through the quarter-cent public safety sales tax, which is levied on all retail purchases made within the county’s corporate limits.

“We felt as though that was only fair, because we’re capturing sales tax from everybody, not just La Salle County residents,” Moore said. “It’s not property tax money that paid for it.”

The MOCC will, among other things, provide on-scene command, coordination, and resilient communications when fixed facilities are damaged or inaccessible.

The unit offers multiple features, including:

• A generator with electrical outlets and charging ports for first-responders to keep their agency-issued devices charged
• Office equipment, including a wireless printer
• High-resolution cameras pointed in all four directions with a quarter-mile distance, each connected to a video screen to keep emergency officials abreast of their surroundings
• Curtains and soundproofing to ensure county officials have privacy during chaotic situations
• Radios on multiple frequencies to ensure communication during internet and telephone blackouts
• Detachable, dry-erase white boards for officials to draw up operations and contingency plans

Moore pointed out an additional function:

“In addition to disaster response, if something were to happen to my office and I needed to relocate to an office, we could actually relocate here. It’s totally functional.”

EMA took possession of the unit on Feb. 18. A test case is pending. Moore said the unit was requested for a missing person search, though the person was located before the unit could arrive on scene.

While by no means eager for a test case or trial run, several public officials who went to Monday’s open house said they approved of the purchase.

Tom Ganiere, public safety commissioner for the City of Ottawa and a longtime firefighter, rattled off a list of past disasters – the Ottawa and Utica tornadoes, the derecho storm – where the unit would have come in most handy.

Ottawa Police Chief Mike Cheatham agreed a county-owned mobile unit will surely prove its value, doubly so because of the digital capabilities, “and being able to dispatch things out.”