Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Building topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Puyallup breaks ground on 54,000-square-foot public safety building at South Hill Technology Campus
Summary
City officials held a brief groundbreaking for a remodeled 54,000-square-foot public safety building at the South Hill Technology Campus that will house a police station and emergency operations center; officials said the remodel saved taxpayers $30 million but did not provide a completion date or funding breakdown.
City of Puyallup officials marked the start of construction on a new 54,000-square-foot public safety building — housing the police department and an emergency operations center — during a brief groundbreaking ceremony at the South Hill Technology Campus, officials said.
City officials said the project will repurpose an existing building to consolidate police squads now spread across satellite offices, provide space for training and new officers, and create a central emergency operations center. "So this is the groundbreaking ceremony for our new public safety building here at the South Hill Technology Campus. We're here on the First Floor of their building where we will be opening a 54,000 square foot public safety building, police station, and emergency operations center," said Speaker 2, a city official.
"We have been waiting decades for this, and we had to get very creative to make this. We the voters sent a message that they didn't want us to build a new building, but it didn't eliminate the need for more space," Speaker 1, a city official, said, describing the decision to remodel an existing structure rather than construct a new facility.
Speakers said the Puyallup Police Department has been operating with three separate squads in satellite offices and that officers spend about 40 minutes a day traveling to meet with those squads. "We've outgrown it so much that I have 3 different squads in satellite offices throughout the city. It's 40 minutes of my day just traveling to go have a meeting with them. To be able to walk next door in something like this, to have them in the same, suite as me, it's it's gonna be amazing," said Speaker 3, a city official.
Officials described the existing headquarters as roughly 60 years old and said the interior remodel of the new site will create space for training and for bringing in new officers. "Our old building has served us well. Unfortunately, it's 60 years old. Our city's grown quite a bit since then. So this facility gives us the opportunity to post training, bring in the new officers, just gives people the space to work," Speaker 2 said.
Speakers characterized the project as a cost-saving alternative to building anew. "So we came up with an innovative solution to take an existing building and to remodel it on the inside. But we've been able to do all of that and save the taxpayers $30,000,000," Speaker 1 said. Officials did not provide a timeline for completion or a detailed funding breakdown at the ceremony.
"Our officers go to work for our community, try so hard each and every day to make a positive difference for our community. We should be proud that we've made an investment in public safety in our community for now and 30 years down the road," Speaker 2 said, referring to the intended multi-decade use of the facility.
The remarks at the short ceremony focused on consolidation, training space and taxpayer savings; no formal vote, ordinance or funding resolution was announced at the event.
