A dedication and open house for the new DETCOG Regional Headquarters will be held Friday, January 10 at 1:30 pm. The facility is located at 1405 Kurth Drive in Lufkin. The new building serves as headquarters for all the programs of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments and Economic Development District (DETCOG).
“We moved in about a month ago, and we are still in the process of settling in and applying some finishing touches,” said DETCOG Executive Director Lonnie Hunt. “But we are ready to show off our new facility to the public. We invite everyone to join us for the dedication program.”
The $3.1 million facility was funded primarily by grants from both public and private sources, including the US Economic Development Administration (EDA), the T.L.L. Temple Foundation, Lufkin Economic Development Corporation, and the E. L. Kurth Jr. Charitable Foundation.
DETCOG is a voluntary association of local governments in the 12-county region encompassing Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity and Tyler counties. Originally based in Diboll, DETCOG was organized in late 1966. After outgrowing its original office space, the agency moved to Jasper in the early 1970’s.
It operates the Area Agency on Aging, Aging/Disabilities Resource Center, 211 Area Information Center, the Regional Emergency 911 Network, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) and a Regional Housing Authority which administers the HUD Housing Choice Voucher Program. Other program areas include Law Enforcement Training, Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Planning, Economic Development, Transportation Planning, Disaster Recovery, a Solid Waste Grants Program, and Services to At-Risk Youth (STAR).
Its new facility places DETCOG in a central location within the region and will allow all its programs to be housed under one roof for the first time in a number of years. The 14,000 square foot facility, designed by KSA and constructed by Timberline Constructors of Lufkin, includes a regional emergency operations center and a new 911 dispatch training facility which can “go live” when necessary to provide backup coverage for any of the 911 dispatch centers throughout the region.
