It was a five-year process, but the safe room is officially open at Coahoma Community College.
The ribbon cutting was held for the safe room Thursday afternoon. The safe room costs $2.4 million and the majority of it was paid for through a Hazard Mitigation Grant. The Coahoma County Board of Supervisors paid 10 percent of the cost at $240,000.
“About five years ago, a gentleman came to me with a dream about having a, I call a tornado shelter,” CCC president Valmadge Towner said during Thursday’s ceremony. “It’s called a safe house. We talked about it. I was excited about having the facility come into a reality.”
Towner said Coahoma County Emegerncy Management Agency director Johnny Tarzi came up with the idea for a safe room and many federal and state agencies were in place, including Federal Emergency Management Agency and Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.
Tarzi first approached Towner when Daniel Vassel was Coahoma County administrator. Morgan Wood has since succeeded Vassel and picked up where he left off. Supervisors Pat Davis, Derrell Washington and Will Young were not on board when the project started, but they were there to finish things up.
“They were responsible for signing off on the check and they did it without missing a hitch,” Towner said.
Towner said his chief of staff Jerone Shaw also played a significant role in getting the safe room on campus.
Board of Supervisors president Paul Pearson, who had gotten married a few days prior to the ceremony, could not be present. Pearson and vice president Johnny Newson were on the board the whole five years.
“This was our main goal,” Newson said speaking for the supervisors. “We wanted to provide security for our students. You cannot put a price on a life.”
The safe room will be able to have 1,600 individuals standing, has a concrete foundation, can withstand 250-mile hour winds and has 10,000 square feet of space. There are also restrooms in the back.
Representatives from the architectural firm Major Design Studio, PLLC from Columbus designed the safe room.
“One of the things we’re excited about is the university will be able to utilize the facility however Dr. Towner decides, just so long as it’s available,” said Ryan Ashford, senior associate and senior project manager of Major Design Studio, PLLC.
Tarzi acknowledged all it took to make the safe room a reality.
“It was a long process,” he said. “We had to draw it up. It was that simple, but it took a long time to get there.”
Former Smithville mayor Gregg Kennedy spoke about a similar facility coming to his town during his tenure and how important it will be for Coahoma County. He said many things could be done with the building.
“I want to congratulate Coahoma County, Coahoma Community College for a fantastic facility,” Kennedy said.
