Doña Ana County's long-awaited Emergency Operations Center on Tortugas Trail is nearly finished, with only a punch list of remaining work standing between the county and a facility built to house a full backup 911 dispatch center, disaster-supply warehouse, and emergency management offices. The single-story, steel-framed complex sits on New Mexico State University property near the NMSU golf course, close to Interstate 25, and carries a project budget of $14,303,309.70.
Stephen Lopez, one of Doña Ana County's three acting county managers, reported on August 25 that the facility is largely complete, telling officials there is “just a punch list of remaining work” left before crews can wrap up. As Organ Mountain News reports, the county is still awaiting electrical service from El Paso Electric before it can begin testing the building's systems and moving staff in. Lopez said the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority “is looking forward to having a full backup dispatch center,” a capability the region has lacked until now.
A Backup Dispatch Hub Built for Live Training
The new facility's dispatch space can accommodate 10 dispatchers simultaneously on live consoles, giving MVRDA — the sole 911 Public Safety Answering Point for six local jurisdictions — a genuine backup site for the first time. MVRDA has already approved new dispatcher consoles for the space, according to the seed reporting. The dispatch authority, established in 1989 through a joint powers agreement between the City of Las Cruces and Doña Ana County as the first consolidated emergency dispatch center in New Mexico, per Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority, handles emergency communications across Las Cruces, Sunland Park, Anthony, Mesilla, Hatch, and unincorporated county territory covering 3,814 square miles and nearly 220,000 residents. In 2024 alone, MVRDA fielded 347,187 calls and dispatched 337,183 emergency incidents.
That workload comes with a real price tag. MVRDA requested a $6.3 million operating budget in April 2024, with the City of Las Cruces — its largest municipal partner — contributing $2.8 million, according to the Las Cruces Bulletin. Costs are split among member governments based on call volume under the joint powers agreement that created the authority.
A Site Years in the Making
Doña Ana County evaluated locations for a new emergency management facility before 2022, ultimately considering more than a dozen potential sites. ASA Architects recommended the NMSU-owned parcel along what is now Tortugas Trail — formerly called Geothermal Drive — in October 2022, per reporting from the Las Cruces Sun-News cited by the seed story. The site met FEMA elevation requirements, had access to existing roads and infrastructure, and offered room for partnerships with other agencies, including the New Mexico Department of Agriculture and the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The county's lease with NMSU runs 45 years, with two additional 10-year renewal options.
Designed by ASA Architects with structural engineering by Stubbs Engineering, the building spans more than 20,000 square feet and includes dedicated coordination rooms for logistics, planning, fire services, law enforcement, and public information, along with an on-site gas and diesel fueling station and controlled facility access — features meant to keep the campus self-sufficient during region-wide emergencies. The address, 4201 Tortugas Trail, has already drawn interest as a training venue, hosting FEMA National Disaster & Emergency Management University's Advanced Public Information Officer course, per the PIO Calendar.
Funding Pieced Together From Multiple Sources
Doña Ana County commissioners approved major project funding in March 2024, when building construction was estimated to cost $12,453,309.70 and furniture and computer equipment required an additional $650,000. American Rescue Plan Act funds covered about $5.6 million of that 2024-approved funding, with roughly $2.9 million in additional federal funding secured toward construction. In March 2026, commissioners approved a $1.2 million mid-year budget adjustment to cover additional network infrastructure, specialized communications server equipment, and furniture.
Most recently, on August 25, commissioners approved a budget revision involving $675,873 in ARPA funds that had previously been approved to cover both the emergency management facility and a separate enterprise resource planning system project; that adjustment was left out of the county's final budget due to timing in the budget process. Those ARPA funds must be spent by December 31, 2026, adding urgency to the project's final stretch.
Leadership Transition and Governance Overhaul
The office moving into the new complex has seen its own recent changes. Amanda Bowen was named Emergency Manager for the joint Doña Ana County and City of Las Cruces Office of Emergency Management in March 2025, according to the Las Cruces Bulletin, taking over after Stephen Lopez was promoted to assistant county manager. The office has operated under a joint city-county cooperative agreement dating back to 2001, and officials are now working to update that governance structure into a formal Joint Powers Agreement, according to Citizen Portal.
Ahead of the move, Doña Ana County's Office of Emergency Management also began standing up New Mexico's first local Type 3 All-Hazards Incident Management Team, supported by a $25,000 state training grant, per the same Citizen Portal report — a team designed to handle extended multi-agency command during major local disasters. The county and MVRDA have also integrated the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System, which can broadcast urgent alerts directly to mobile devices in targeted zones without requiring residents to register in advance, according to Doña Ana County.
Once El Paso Electric completes the electrical hookup, the county plans to test the building's systems before beginning to move staff and equipment into the facility, finishing the remaining punch-list work along the way. The center will ultimately house Office of Emergency Management administrative offices, a disaster-supply warehouse, and space for coordinating disaster response and training — consolidating functions that have long been scattered across the region into a single, purpose-built hub.
