City dedicates environmental services center

The city of Springfield today will open and dedicate the new Environmental Resource Center, housed in renovated space previously occupied by the Springfield-Greene County Health Department's Women, Infants and Children Clinic and the city's Solid Waste Management Division.

The $1.02 million, 8,662-square-foot center, 290 E. Central St., houses the city's newly formed Department of Environmental Services, which consolidates the Solid Waste Management, Environmental Compliance, Air Quality, Water Quality, Clean Water Services and Sustainability divisions. Nonprofit preservation organization Ozarks Greenways also has moved into the building, according to a news release.

“Springfield and Greene County have a long-standing commitment to the protection of the environment. We now raise that commitment to a new level by reorganizing staff and services into a consolidated Department of Environmental Services,” Mayor Bob Stephens said in the release. “We believe this will help us better meet the challenges of keeping the city in compliance with an ever-changing regulatory landscape.

"Having this new department in one place will also make services more easily accessible to the community we serve.”

Storee Construction served as general contractor for the building, Randy Dunlap of the Public Works Department  designed the facility and engineers were Wells & Scaletty LLC, structural, and Malone Finkle Eckhardt & Collins Inc., mechanical, electrical and plumbing. According to the release, the city is seeking a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Silver designation on the building.

Funding for the project came from the Solid Waste Management Division's Enterprise Fund, made up of tipping fees generated the Springfield Sanitary Landfill.