GREEN BAY (WTAQ-WLUK) – Green Bay is looking at combining the headquarters for its police and fire departments under one new roof.
For the past few years, Green Bay Police personnel have made it known, they’re running out of room in their nearly 50-year-old downtown building.
“We’re currently using closets and old offices to store evidence,” said Captain John Laux of the Green Bay Police Department.
Down the street and around the corner, Green Bay Metro Fire has been running out of administration space.
The city is looking at helping both departments by putting them in a new building more than twice the size of the current police department.
Laux spoke with WLUK
“A lot of our training is similar. A lot of shared spaces can be used.”
With a projected construction date of Spring 2018, Bray Architects estimates, with inflation, the construction cost for the building would be between $34.4 million and $38 million.
An additional joint storage building would be between $5.8 million and $6.4 million.
Tom DeWane, Green Bay’s city council president, isn’t surprised at the cost.
“You’re looking at a brand new facility. With everything they need that is involved with this, we expected that from the beginning.”
“I think it’s something that is ok that we take a 20-year borrowing that our kids help pay for this, because this is something that is going to stand the test of time,” said Mayor Jim Schmitt.
A site for the new building hasn’t been picked out yet. However, Schmitt says city staff is already considering three possible locations. All of them are in the downtown.
“There is property that we own that we would just earmark towards this in the next two years to get the financing squared away and get final approval on that and we can start construction in 2018″
First the city council must sign off on the idea. It is expected to discuss the plan for the first time next week.
