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Police propose regional training center and indoor range; committee urges internal coordination first
Summary
Wausau police presented a long-term proposal to replace an aging outdoor range with a modern indoor training center, possibly shared regionally with other agencies and North Central Technical College. Staff recommended internal planning between police and fire before pursuing external partners or grant funding.
Chief Barnes and Captain Ben Graham told the committee the department's current outdoor shooting range sits on 3M property and has served the department for decades but is not a modern facility. The department placed a planning note in the CIP to flag a potential future need for an indoor range, training classrooms and shared regional partnerships.
"It's not what I would call a modern facility," Captain Ben Graham said of the existing outdoor range. He described an indoor facility cost example from a similar-sized department that began at about $3.5 million and escalated to $7 million over two years; he said a fully realized regional facility could exceed $10 million.
Committee members and department leaders discussed siting possibilities. Members suggested the city could host a joint police-fire public safety training campus and seek partnerships with Marathon County, the Marathon County Sheriff's Office, smaller municipal departments and North Central Technical College to share cost and use. Council members urged the two public safety departments to define their combined needs and a program of spaces before approaching outside partners.
Alder Gessman said internal alignment between police and fire would yield a stronger proposal to outside partners. Police said that permitting constraints on the 3M site and the town of Maine limit certain upgrades to the existing outdoor range, so a new facility on city-owned land would be preferable in the longer term.
The request did not include a dollar figure or a construction timeline; the department said the item is a long-term planning note for the CIP and that no funds are being requested for next year. Committee members recommended staff-to-staff discussions between police and fire to develop a concrete needs assessment before future CIP scoring.
Why it matters: a regional indoor range and public safety training center would centralize training, reduce travel time for officers, enable cross-agency exercises, and potentially free up recurring costs if shared among partners. No funding decision was made at the July 21 meeting.
