This podcast contains comments from Texas A&M system vice chancellor and the director of the Texas division of emergency management, Nim Kidd, during a November 11, 2020 A&M system board of regents committee meeting.

A climate controlled warehouse to store personal protective equipment (PPE) will be built at the Texas A&M system's RELLIS campus.

That's after the board of regents approved a request at this month's meeting from Nim Kidd, the director of the Texas division of emergency management (TDEM) and the system's vice chancellor for disaster and emergency services.

Kidd says TDEM is currently working with 450,000 square feet of borrowed storage space.

Construction of the 60,000 square foot, $10.4 million dollar building will start towards the end of next May. Half the funding comes from CARES Act money.

Kidd also asked the regents to thank employees of four other A&M system agencies for their work during the pandemic.

Quoting Kidd, "between TEEX, TEES, the Forest Service and AgriLife, they have saved this state's bacon."

Kidd explained "The men and women whose job was not emergency management from those four state agencies, have been working at warehouses around the clock, most of them not climate controlled even today. They have been delivering PPE, delivering medications, delivering test supplies and kits back and forth to labs, around the clock, non stop, without question, without complaint."