The building that houses Nassau's multimillion-dollar Office of Emergency Management is about to go on the auction block.



Nassau's OEM center in Bethpage is where officials plan, prepare and respond to disasters, of both the natural and manmade kind. The county leases the building where the center is located. But now the building's owner is in foreclosure and the property is up for auction.

With the county in danger of losing its security hub, the Nassau Legislature today called an unusual pre-Christmas session to discuss placing a bid on the property.

The building has been home to Nassau's OEM since 2010. Since then, the county has received tens of millions of dollars in Homeland Security grants that it used to buy equipment and enhance the facility. Republicans say they don't want to lose all that.



Nassau Democrats were unhappy with the process, calling it last-minute and rushed. But the Republican-dominated Legislature voted to allow the county executive to place a bid to buy the building and save the emergency facility. Democrats abstained from voting.



County officials refused to say how much it would cost to relocate the security center, saying releasing that information would interfere with the bid.

The county executive's office says it tried to buy the property before it went into foreclosure and just learned about the auction a couple weeks ago. The auction is expected to take place next month.