With questions unanswered, police station bond election delayed

A public facilities bond election that would fund the siting and construction of a Moscow police station at the existing Moscow Recycling Center originally set for this spring has now been scheduled for May 2019.

The Moscow City Council directed city staff Tuesday night to move the bond election in order to provide time to answer the public's questions regarding the future recycling center and proposed new facilities. The bond would also provide money to repurpose the current police facility and renovate the Mann Building.

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City Supervisor Gary Riedner said the new date will also allow time to work through the sanitation planning process, which the council addressed Tuesday when it approved a sanitation system planning services agreement with Great West Engineering Inc. of Boise in the amount of $63,641. Sanitation Operation Manager Tim Davis said the key elements of the plan will include evaluation of the recycling program and facility and development of a recycling center layout concept. He said the planning project is expected to be completed by September.

The police facility is expected to cost roughly $6,996,261, the existing police station renovations to house city offices is estimated to cost $1,433,571 and the Mann Building renovations will cost about $125,755, for a total of $8,555,588, which is roughly the amount of the bond measure.

Riedner said a city facilities study indicated several deficiencies with the existing police station on East Fourth Street, including inadequate space, inefficient configuration and limited access for emergency response.

"The police station has long been a goal of the City Council for, well, as long as I've been here -- 26 years," said Riedner, who added it is time to move forward with the project.

The study also identified significant overcrowding and inadequate reception, work, meeting and storage space at the Mann Building, which houses city operations at the corner of Second and Jefferson streets.

The recycling center has also outgrown its facility on North Jackson Street, Riedner said. He said recycling volumes at the center grew from 2,424 tons annually in 1995 to 3,644 tons in 2013.

With growing recycling material tonnage, community participation and the implementation of single-stream curbside recycling collection, overall recycling tonnage will far outstrip the center's ability to meet the city's future requirements without a new design, location or recycling approach, Riedner said.

If the bond is approved next year, the police station would proposed to be occupied by the summer of 2021, the Mann Building by the summer of 2022 and the existing police station by the winter of 2021, Riedner said.

He said city staff will bring the final proposed facilities project package to the council for its review and approval this fall in anticipation of the May 2019 general obligation bond election.

Tribune Content Agency
Infrastructure Idaho
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