New emergency operations center opens in Farmington Hills

FARMINGTON HILLS — Fire Station No. 5 recently opened a new state-of-the-art emergency operations center. The facility is located at 31455 W. 11 Mile Road on the campus of Farmington Hills City Hall.

Government officials joined community leaders for the grand opening and ribbon cutting Oct. 29 of the newly renovated space that added 3,000 square feet to the building.

“What a joyful and meaningful day for the city of Farmington Hills,” said the town’s mayor, Theresa Rich. “It’s really about the people and the partnerships that made this happen.”

Those partnerships included state and local leaders such as state Rep. Jason Hoskins (House District 18) and Rep. Samantha Steckloff (House District 19), as well as state Sen. Mary Cavanagh (Senate District 6) and state Sen. Rosemary Bayer (Senate District 13), who together helped secure a $3 million grant that paid for the entire project.

The funds were presented to the city in 2024. Construction then followed in March 2025 and was finished in September 2025.

“It was completed early and under budget,” said Farmington Hills Fire Chief Jon Unruh.

Before the expansion, the building was bursting at the seams. Employees were working over each other in shared cubicles, and there were no designated areas for the city’s heating and cooling shelters, the chief said.

Now, there is room for the growing staff, and designated space to operate the shelters.

City officials raved about how the project was done without any city funding.

“This demonstrates our fiscal responsibility to our taxpayers, as well as collaboration with our local and state leaders,” said City Manager Gary Mekjian. “It gives Farmington Hills Public Safety professionals everything that our taxpayers expect: the technology, tools and space they need to manage and mitigate natural (disasters) — and the more unfortunately manmade incidents — more efficiently and effectively.”

Mekjian praised the fire chief’s team for their efforts applying for the grant.

“It’s not easy for those who have ever applied for state, local grants or even federal grants,” Mekjian said. “It takes a lot of effort to secure the funding to make the project possible.”