ECPD expansion plans almost ready for bidding
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com

Contributed Graphic Planned Growth This drawing shows the planned expansions at the El Campo Police department, at right and bottom.

Plans for expansion of the El Campo Police Department building got a nod from City Council Thursday night and are now within a month of going out for bid.

The almost 8,000-square-foot building is scheduled for a complete re-roofing along with a twopronged expansion of the facility. At the same time, roofing over the fire/EMS station will be redone.

The police department building was constructed in 1974 and has already undergone one renovation.

The current project will expand the jail and dispatch areas in addition to providing a new sally port (a securable area for off-loading prisoners) which will block the current drive between the police station and City Hall.

The old sally port area will then be converted into offices and record storage areas.

At the same time, the area used by dispatchers will be extended 14 feet to the south of the building adding a bathroom as well as a better area for the storage of city computer servers.

A handicap-accessible public restroom will be built at the same time.

"This is a unique situation in that the building has to be in use 100 percent of the time," RWS Architect Malcolm Gaus said.

To accommodate the constant duty schedule of a police department, the work will be done in stages, Gaus said.

In the dispatch area, for example, the new portion will be built in what is now the parking lot with the outside wall remaining intact. Only after the work is completed will the wall be taken out.

"We will build around it and then demolish," Gaus said.

Overall the project should take nine to 12 months to complete.

Gaus told Council he recommended putting it out to bid with the new animal control building (please see related story).

The project was estimated at $570,000 last summer, but since then costs have risen across the board, Gaus said, adding he did not have a current estimate of what it would cost to complete the project.

The work is part of a $2.9 million municipal building improvement plan backed with a combination of fund balance dollars and $1.65 million in Certificates of Obligation.