"It's very challenging if your people who work here are so uncomfortable and uneasy," he said. "It was enough that they felt unsafe being in the building and chose to leave. How can we effectively ask them to stay in a building that might risk their safety and well being (during a larger quake)."

If the earthquake had occurred in the city, Burbank said he has been assured by engineers that the building itself would not collapse on everyone. But everything inside the structure, including emergency dispatch radios, would no longer work, he said.

Dispatchers would have to get out of the building to perform their duties elsewhere, causing police to not be able to respond to emergencies effectively, Burbank said.

Tom Panuzio, CEO of Global Security Capital Group, a company that helps with funding for construction of new public safety buildings, believes the earthquake was an urgent wakeup call.

"Salt Lake City has best first-responders, but we don't have the facilities to protect them. We need to invest to keep those responders safe," he said. "This hits way too close to home. This needs to be a wakeup call to state and city officials that the facilities need to be upgraded now."

Burbank said he has had several meetings with Mayor Ralph Becker on what can be done now to get a new public safety building.

"We're looking at several funding options. We're in the education process with the new mayor. We have to go through and make sure he's comfortable with all we're asking for," Burbank said. "It's certainly not a dead issue by any means."

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