Vote nears for 2 Fayetteville bond issues

FAYETTEVILLE — City administrators want to use sales-tax revenue from two bond issues to build a new police headquarters and renovate three buildings.

Their plans, if approved by voters, would save money and better serve residents, administrators said.

One bond issue would allow up to almost $37 million for the new police headquarters. The other issue would put about $3.2 million toward repairs at three city buildings: City Hall, the parks building on Happy Hollow Road and the police station.

About $35 million and $3 million are budgeted for each issue, respectively, with some money added to cover whatever the maximum interest rates may be at the time the bonds are issued.

Voters go to the polls April 9 to decide whether to continue the city’s 1 percent sales tax to pay for about $226 million in bond projects. Early voting starts April 2.

The Police Department has been at 100 W. Rock St. since 1993. The station used to be a J.C. Penney automotive center. It wasn’t exactly an ideal fit when officers moved in, let alone today, Police Chief Greg Tabor said. The station expanded by about 4,800 square feet when the district court and city prosecutor’s office moved out in 2010. The department has used every inch of space since then, Tabor said recently.

Officers change clothes in the hallways. Anyone in a wheelchair has to use an old freight elevator to get up and down floors. The staff has to devise makeshift spaces for mothers who need to breastfeed.

Prisoners, victims, residents, and people accused of crimes all pass through the same lobby at the front door, the chief said.

Another reason for addressing the police buildings, Tabor said, is that a new station would help Fayetteville compete for new officers. Northwest Arkansas police departments recruit from the same pool of applicants, and competition is getting tighter, he said.

In recent years, Springdale voters passed a $41 million bond issue to help pay for a new criminal justice center for police and courts. That project is in the final design phase, and construction should start in April, a city spokesman said.

OTHER CITIES’ PLANS

Rogers voters approved a bond referendum to build a police dispatch center. Initial construction and design meetings start this month, a city spokesman said.

Bentonville is building a 21,600-square-foot 911 Center and Criminal Investigation Division building south of the main police station using leftover bond money and savings. The framework on the building is finished, and the center should open in September, according to a police spokesman.

It wouldn’t be hard to imagine an aspiring police officer passing up Fayetteville for another city with nicer accommodations, Tabor said.

“We have to keep up with the Joneses as far as recruiting that candidate who we want, who Springdale wants, who Rogers wants,” he said.

The $35 million police headquarters project would create separate buildings for the police station; training, evidence and vehicle storage; and an indoor firing range.

A study from design firm Dewberry in Tulsa identified two potential sites for the campus. Nothing has been set in stone, nor have any offers for land acquisition been made, Deputy Police Chief Mike Reynolds said.

Ideally the campus would go in the center of the city, but finding enough open land in the middle of the city probably isn’t feasible, Reynolds said.

Right now, police are spread throughout the city at the main station downtown, a storage facility, an outdoor firing range, a bike patrol unit at the Northwest Arkansas Mall, and an office in a parking deck building.

SEPARATE ISSUE

The separate proposed bond issue for $3 million would fund improvements to three city facilities and a plaza.

City Hall needs $1.5 million for mechanical and electrical replacements. The 21-yearold heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system would be replaced with more energy-efficient boilers, chillers, fan coils and controls. The 37-yearold electrical system would be replaced with LEDs, a system to monitor how much power is used, and new controls. The large windows on the first floor would be replaced with high-efficiency frames and glass.

The old storm windows at City Hall were replaced last year. Other than that, renovations have been few and far between. The last major renovation at City Hall was in 1982, Facilities Manager Wade Abernathy said. The air conditioning was upgraded in 1998.

Mayor Lioneld Jordan said it’s his goal to conserve energy and taxpayer dollars with more efficient buildings.

“You can build all the new stuff you want, but you’ve got to maintain what you got,” Jordan said. “You’ve got to keep it up to speed. It’s like your cellphone.”

Another $1 million is planned for renovations at the police station on Rock Street and the parks building on Happy Hollow Road. Work would include LED upgrades, interior office renovations and selective air-conditioning replacements.

The preliminary plan is to move the parks staff into the police station if the new police headquarters bond issue passes, Jordan said. The city would then put the vehicle fleet in the parks building.

Another $500,000 would be reserved to give the plaza in front of the Town Center a face-lift. The plaza would be resurfaced with waterproof brick, and the trench drains would be replaced.

The city owns the Town Center and plaza, but the city’s tourism bureau manages it. Tourism Director Molly Rawn said the plaza is a space anyone can enjoy.

“This is just one more thing we can do to help make that space safer and more enjoyable,” Rawn said.