Moscow police station on the move?

The Moscow Police Department could be in a new station on Jackson Street where the Moscow Recycling Center is now by the summer of 2020.

The City Council directed city staff Monday night to prepare an $8.5 million public facilities bond election in May to fund siting and construction of a police station at the Recycling Center site, redevelop the Recycling Center facility and renovate the current police station and Mann Building for city operations.

City Supervisor Gary Riedner outlined a proposal to the council to build a police facility on the site of the Recycling Center, repurpose the current police station on Fourth Street for the community development and engineering operations and renovate the Paul Mann Building on Second Street to house other city operations.

The total project cost for the three buildings is estimated at $8.1 million, with the new police station estimated to cost $7 million.

Riedner said a 2015 City Facilities Master Plan led to a four-phase approach, including construction of a new 13,000 square-foot police station and new city office building to replace the Mann Building.

According to the facilities study, Riedner said the police department has several deficiencies, including inadequate space, inefficient configuration and limited access for emergency response. The study also identified significant overcrowding and inadequate reception, work, meeting and storage space at the Mann Building, Riedner said.

He said the 2016 City Strategic Plan identified the “deteriorating and substandard” police station as a major challenge the city wants to address, citing the lack of a secure location, limited access, lack of sufficient space and insufficient storage and evidence space.

The $8.5 million general obligation bond, which would cover the costs of the three projects, must get a two-thirds “yes” vote by Moscow residents to pass.

The likelihood of a joint law enforcement facility housing both the Moscow Police Department and Latah County Sheriff’s Office appears to be in the rearview mirror — at least for now.

“It’s been about 10 years, maybe a little longer, since we’ve pursued joint law enforcement,” Riedner said.

He said many issues would need to be resolved if the discussion were to continue.

The council also approved:

•  Mayor Bill Lambert’s appointment of Brandy Sullivan to fill the vacant council seat occupied by John Weber, who died Nov. 8. Sullivan, who was recently elected to a four-year council seat, will serve the remainder of Weber’s term and start her four-year term in January.
•  A Third Street bridge agreement for the design and construction management services with Keller Associates, of Meridian, Idaho, in an amount not to exceed $122,880. Public Works Director Les MacDonald said one of the items included in the agreement is the assessment of available bridge types. He said one of the front runners is a precast concrete arch structure. The bridge is budgeted for $580,000 in the city’s current budget year ending Sept. 30, 2018, and the $122,880 is included within that budget.

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