Police department to receive
new station
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
Sworn officials
and civilian employees of the West Lafayette police department will
soon have more space to conduct better service for West Lafayette due
to construction of a new station, said police chief Dan Marvin.
Construction for
the station is expected to begin at the end of this year or the beginning
of next year, depending on weather.
West Lafayette police
worked with city officials and an architectural firm from Indianapolis
to determine which needs should be met for the new facility.
"It was obvious
that our existing facility was not adequate to meet our needs and to
provide the community with the services we need to," said Marvin. "There
are a lot of functions that we don't have space to perform."
Gary Fisher, project
manager for the Indianapolis firm, said that his company did a study
in cooperation with the city of West Lafayette to determine the amount
of space needed for the new facility. According to Fisher, the new station
will range between 26,000 and 27,000 gross square feet, including new
conference rooms and training facilities.
The firm decided
on the required amount of space while working with census information
and the local Chamber of Commerce to determine estimated population
growth in the West Lafayette area for the year 2010 and the year 2025.
"Of course we want
to build for the future; we don't want to just build for today," said
Marvin.
The West Lafayette
police station now has 40 sworn personnel and 24 civilians working in
the facility. Through projections made by the firm, an estimated 109
people will be employed by the West Lafayette police station in the
year 2025.
The new station
will be funded through bonds issued by the city of West Lafayette. The
bonds will be repaid from economic development income tax funds, not
out of general property tax funds, said Mayor Sonya Margerum.
"We're budgeting
about $500,000 per year for payments on bonds," said Margerum. "We won't
know costs until bids are made and accepted."
Margerum said she
agreed that a new station was needed.
Local citizens formed
a committee to work with architects in order to determine the necessary
requirements for the new station.
"We've been crowded
for a long period of time. The original department was built for 20
people," she said. "I think this will be a big benefit to the police
and for the rest of city hall."
After the new station
is completed, its neighbors at City Hall will use the current facility
for their own purposes.
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