Politics & Government

City Council Approves Design For Temporary Police Station

After bids for a basement-level space came in over budget earlier this year, elected leaders opt for a second-story space. The change prompted lots of discussion on the dais.

At this rate, the could end up somewhere in Fircrest.

The University Place City Council voted 6-1 on Monday night to approve a $62,000 agreement with Helix Design Group to design its future location in the Civic Building at Town Center.

But the new design calls for a temporary location on the second floor of the Civic Building where future office space is planned.

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The vote comes $52,692 to design the police station's future home in the same building but on the basement floor. At the time, officials said it was an ideal location because it was off Drexler Drive and directly underneath the library.

But plans changed last month when the city work. The city budgeted $875,000, and the bids that were submitted were between $1 million and $1.4 million.

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City Manager Steve Sugg told Patch at the time that the job would require shrinking the scope of the work.

On Monday night, officials - some more reluctant than others - agreed to switch gears to come up with a relatively quick solution, as the University Place Police Department is required to move out of its current location at .

The new design will be cheaper, and it will offer about the same amount of space, 5,000 square feet, that the city envisioned. The future station - which takes up about half of the second floor - will be in a space originally intended for offices. The new design of the police station will almost mirror that of the future office spaces, so the city will still market the specifically designed office area to developers.

Officers will be able to overlook the Civic Building's atrium area.

Once University Place sells the space, it will move the police department to its originally intended location underneath the library off Drexler Drive.

Councilman Eric Choiniere said it's unfortunate that the city wasn't able to move its police force into its permanent location immediately, but the city is facing a deadline.

He also acknowledged that University Place is paying extra for Helix to produce the redesign, but it's worth it. The city would have to produce the second-floor design for office space anyway, so the city still benefits.

"This is not a waste of taxpayer money," he said.

But Councilman Javier Figueroa - who voted against the contract - argued otherwise. He questioned why the vote came up so hastily and without going to the public, even though staff had presented the dilemma last month.

He also argued that the police department wouldn't get the holding cell it would have gotten in its basement location, and he questioned whether users of the University Place Library would witness, for example, arrestees being escorted in handcuffs.

As for the idea of the second-floor space being temporary for the police department, he said he didn't think that was going to happen:Β "This is not interim."

"We're walking into a complicated area that's going to backfire," he added.

Kent Keel - - voiced his concern about the new location, or at least how the city arrived at this point.

"In my view, we are paying twice for the same thing," he said. "It's something that could have been easily avoided."

But Police Chief Rusty Wilder said it's rare that officers will have to handcuff someone at headquarters, as nearly all inmates are taken to the Pierce County Jail.

If they do handcuff someone, say, a juvenile, officers will exercise their judgment in exposing them to library users.

As for the issue of payment, Councilman Gerald Gehring said the city would be losing money if it didn't go with the second-floor space because, for instance if the police department moved somewhere else, it would lose out on the design.

Added Sugg: "We'd like to have them in that permanent facility, but we're dealing with factors that are out of our control."


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