Trion to make bid for GSP post
The town is offering to move the Rome Georgia State Patrol post from its 1960s barracks to a new facility.
The town of Trion plans to submit a formal offer to the Georgia State Patrol for the relocation of GSP Post 38 in Rome to Chattooga County.
Trion Mayor Larry Stansell said Friday that he would be sending the letter Tuesday, immediately after the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
“I knew the Georgia State Patrol had asked Floyd County several years ago about building a new facility for them,” Stansell said, adding that his town is ready to make a commitment.
The GSP barracks is located at 3386 Martha Berry Highway, across from the Food Lion shopping center in Armuchee. The post covers Floyd and Chattooga counties.
Floyd County Manager Jamie McCord said he knows the post commander, Sgt. 1st Class Scott Thompson, has been seeking a new facility for years. The building on U.S. 27 North was constructed in the mid 1960s and deeded to the state of Georgia.
“It’s old, there’s no doubt it needs renovations,” McCord said.
The idea of building a new GSP facility with special purpose, local option sales tax receipts was pitched to the 2009 and 2013 SPLOST committees but never gained any momentum.
McCord said part of the problem was that the county would have to acquire new land, since SPLOST money can’t be spent on state-owned property.
When the project didn’t come to fruition in Floyd County, Stansell said he started talking with one of the troopers about moving to Trion. He took the idea to the town council some time back, and they expressed interest.
Now, the city has three to five acres next to a future industrial park on U.S. 27 North that Standell said would be the right fit for a patrol post. The council approved on Thursday the submission of a letter of interest.
“I’d hate to lose them,” McCord said, when informed of Trion’s pending offer.
It won’t happen overnight, though.
GSP spokesman Capt. Mark Terry said the offer would have to go through both the Georgia Department of Public Safety board of directors and the State Properties Commission.
“It’s a long, long process,” Terry said. “It would take years to get through that process.”
Stansell said he thinks the city could build a new post headquarters for between $500,000 and $600,000, although that would depend on the architectural plans the GSP would submit.
“Then, of course, I would have to go back before the council for funding,” he said. “We would look at every potential funding source that we could.”
Stansell said if the city gets the patrol barracks, he would aggressively go after the Department of Driver Services office as well.