Jackson police, fire upgrade plans presented

After more than a year of talks, Jackson's plans to upgrade the city's emergency services facilities are finally materializing.

Architect Phillip Smith, with whom the city is contracted, and who has partnered with Kansas City Firm Williams, Spurgeon, Kuhl and Freshnock, presented three designs to the board of aldermen during a study session Monday night.

Architect Rick Kuhl first explained how the committee, comprising architects and Jackson city employees, ascertained the most pressing needs of the city's emergency services personnel. The needs assessment began in May 2014 and took into account needs projections for at least the next 20 years.

The current facility, Kuhl pointed out, was built in 1980 and no longer is adequate. The three prospective designs, he said, represent "facilities that would need to exist for the next 40 to 50 years without further substantial investment."

The current police and fire department facilities occupy 7,212 and 6,320 square feet respectively. In 20 years, the police and fire departments are expected to need 17,888 and 10,843 square feet respectively.

All three designs provide for these needs but would do so in different ways.

The first entails minor renovation for the fire department and major renovation for the police department and would cost about $8 million.

The second option would include the construction of a new building for the police department and minor renovation to the fire department's existing facilities and would cost about $7.4 million.

The third option would resemble the second but would include a new Emergency Operations Center in the new building, as opposed to putting it in the basement of the existing facility as outlined in plan two. The third plan would cost about $8 million.

The Jackson Police Department's most pressing needs include security; adequate prisoner and evidence intake, processing and handling; adequate personnel workspace; and adequate environmental protection.

Kuhl talked about the importance of establishing multiple layers of security boundaries, which the current facility lacks. As it stands, a door near the glassed-in front desk and dispatch office is the only substantially effective barrier.

"You have access to the entire facility once you're past that door," Kuhl said, pointing out the process of transporting prisoners from a detention cell to the shower involves moving them -- under supervision -- past the reception desk. This, he said, presents a substantial and unnecessary threat to the safety of other office employees and dispatchers.

The shower itself shares space with a storage rack full of copier paper and cleaning supplies, which Kuhl cited as a potential problem.

Evidence is stored in a series of lockers at the current facility, with a strongbox nearby in which to deposit keys after logging items.

"All I'd have to do to tamper with a piece of evidence is bust open this little box, and I'd have access to it," Kuhl said.

He also said during the needs assessment, the committee found during the highest-volume scenarios, the chain of evidence becomes less controlled than it could be. In the "bagging and tagging" process, if there is insufficient room, "[pieces of evidence] often end up on a police officer's desk."

He said while these don't undermine the integrity of evidence, establishing more secure chain-of-evidence protocols should be a core objective of any facility improvement.

Jackson police chief James Humphreys said his principal concern during the needs-assessment phase was to maintain the effectiveness of the police and fire departments working in tandem, but after reviewing the proposal, he didn't foresee any problems in that regard with any of the designs.

Fire chief Jason Mauser expressed support for plans that incorporate individualized, gender-neutral bunk space that would accommodate the possibility of female firefighters joining the department in the future.

Mayor Dwain Hahs questioned Kuhl with regard to expansion possibilities, should the need arise. Kuhl said although they believe they've allowed enough space to support future growth, more buildings could be added if demands exceed expectations.

Since the construction of the existing facility, Jackson has roughly doubled in population, from 7,827 to an estimated 14,677 in 2014, according to the most recent available Census data.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627