Moscow chief: Federal Building 'great location'

Moscow Police Chief James Fry said the Federal Building at 220 E. Fifth St. is a "great location" for a new police station.

Gritman Medical Center officials have had preliminary discussions with the city about the possible purchase of the hospital-owned Federal Building.

Still, a lot of potential locations are on the table, Fry said.

Fry said he has not assessed the building to see if it would fit the needs of the police department, now nearby at 118 E. Fourth St., but he likes that it is downtown.

Fry said the Federal Building's surrounding streets have better access than the current police station.

Police officers can only exit the police station onto Washington Street, a one-way street, or through the alley that runs north-south on the west side of the police station.

Fry said police cars sometimes get held up in the alley when pedestrians are walking through it and when vehicles are parked in the alley for loading and unloading purposes.

The Federal Building, bordered by Washington Street to the west, Fifth Street to the south, Jefferson Street to the east and Fourth Street to the north, allows better street access, Fry said.

Fifth, Jefferson and Fourth streets are two-way streets.

Fry said the Federal Building would also provide more parking for residents and police officers than the current police station. Gritman owns a parking lot across Fifth Street south of the building, which could be used for residents and police officers. He said police officers now sometimes have trouble finding parking.

Gary Riedner, city supervisor, said the price of the Federal Building has not been discussed at length primarily because the city does not know what it would cost to remodel it.

"We don't know what the value is," Riedner said.

Riedner said he does not know what the city would do with the old police station.

"It could be repurposed. It could be resold," Riedner said.

Besides police, the additional space in the Federal Building could house the city's Community Development and Engineering offices now in the Paul Mann Building in the City Hall parking lot. The Mann Building is too small and its structural integrity may be failing, Riedner told Moscow City Council members Monday night. The Information Systems office would be another potential occupant of the Federal Building, he told the councilors. It is temporarily at the Eggan Youth Center on D Street near Mountain View Road.

"Those are three departments that currently have severe space issues," Riedner said. "Those are immediate needs and we would hope to address those as part of this discussion."

Kara Besst, Gritman Medical Center president and CEO, said the hospital bought the Federal Building for almost $2.4 million in 2013.

She said tenants of the building, which include the U.S. Postal Service, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and others, were notified of the talks between the city and Gritman.

Besst said Gritman made it clear to the tenants that they do not have to seek another space for their business because the discussions are preliminary.

The Federal Building is 44,000 square feet, 11,000 square feet of which is leased to the Postal Service. The police department requires about 15,000 square feet, Riedner told City Councilors.

Riedner said Latah County Commissioners and Moscow City Council members determined about 10 years ago that a joint facility with the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Sheriff's Office was not feasible at the time.

"I know that we won't join them," said Sheriff Richard Skiles. "It won't be a joint place at all that I know of."

Skiles said he is happy with the sheriff's office facility at the Latah County Courthouse. There has been talk about remodeling the sheriff's office, but it is fine now, Skiles said.

The Moscow Police Department does not have its own jail, Riedner said. The sheriff's office runs the jail at the courthouse. Riedner said a jail is not proposed to be built at the Federal Building if the city were to move its police station there.

"We have no plans to run a city jail," he said.

Discussions between Gritman Medical Center and Moscow will take place over the next several months and if it is determined that the city's acquisition of the property would serve the community and the hospital's needs, a proposal will be brought forward to the Gritman Board of Directors and the Moscow City Council, according to a city press release.

The release said it is anticipated that to purchase the building, the city would use public funding through a $10 million general obligation bond election in the spring of 2018.

The proposed bond would also help pay for street improvements, City Shop improvements, park development, fire trucks, downtown infrastructure improvements and the Moscow Recycling Center and yard waste drop-off relocation.

If the bond passes with at least two-thirds majority vote, the purchase of the Federal Building would be finalized in the fall of 2018. No changes to existing lease agreements would be considered until the end of 2018 or early 2019, the release said.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.