Committee advances Overland Park public-safety CIP; police training facility budget rises to $23.5 million

The Overland Park Public Safety Committee on a unanimous voice vote recommended that the committee of the whole advance the city manager’s proposed capital improvement plan (CIP) and maintenance plan, moving forward several public-safety projects including a $23.5 million police training facility.

The committee recommendation covers the public-safety portion of the five‑year CIP and maintenance program. The police training facility is listed at a new project cost of $23,500,000, a $4,000,000 increase attributed in staff materials to an updated program study and an updated engineer’s estimate. Staff told the committee approximately $2,500,000 of the increase would come from a reallocation of county courthouse sales tax and the remainder from additional bonding.

Why it matters: the police training facility is the largest single public-safety capital item in the plan and is scheduled to begin construction in late 2025 or early 2026. Committee members and staff said the facility is intended to consolidate training functions, include an indoor range and simulator space, and free up space in the Sanders Justice Center for other police operations.

Staff overview and project list Gina (city staff) and Kyle (city staff) reviewed the CIP book and the city’s five‑year financial assumptions, noting expected assessed-valuation and sales-tax growth and pointing to schedules that show the police training facility increase. The staff presentation reviewed the public-safety projects (police and fire) and maintenance items; highlights discussed by committee members and staff included:

- Police training facility: $23,500,000; $4,000,000 increase from updated program and engineer estimate; $2,500,000 reallocated from county courthouse sales tax and roughly $1,600,000 additional bonding to cover the remainder. Construction targeted late 2025/early 2026.

- Fire Station 42 feasibility study: planned for 2027 with a $100,000 budget to assess whether the 1970 station can be remodeled or requires reconstruction.

- Fire apparatus: multiple apparatus orders with multiyear lead times; staff said many units ordered in prior years will not be delivered until late 2026/early 2027. A $25,000 addition to the 2025 apparatus plan would add a planned "sprinter" transport van.

- Police mobile video and body-worn camera program: timing moved from 2028 to 2026 to allow evaluation of modern platforms; no change in the total dollar amount for the replacement project. Committee members asked staff to return with policy and release‑of‑footage recommendations prior to a substantial new investment.

- License plate readers: 2028 replacement of mobile and fixed readers budgeted at $450,000 on a five‑year replacement cycle.

- Cardiac monitors: 2029 project increased to include 20 monitors for Johnson County Fire District No. 2; staff said the unit cost is $50,000 per monitor (20 monitors × $50,000 each was discussed during the meeting).

- Handgun replacement: removed from the CIP because the police department intends to use alternative funding (federal forfeiture/forfeiture funds) for earlier replacement, reportedly planned in 2025.

- Radio replacement (public safety): extended into 2029–2030 and expanded to include Merriam and Johnson County Fire District No. 2; staff said the plan’s use of the equipment reserve fund for this project will largely deplete that reserve by 2030.

- Police range simulator: $400,000 project listed in 2029; staff described this as an add-on to the new training center’s simulation suite and said the department would move the currently owned simulator into the new building to extend its useful life.

- Dispatch radio consoles: new 2029 project for $1,650,000 to update regional-standard consoles and associated furniture in coordination with Mid-America Regional Council.

- Bomb robot and explosives trailer: new 2025 project of $400,000 to replace an aged trailer and update robotics equipment prior to the 2026 World Cup events.

Maintenance projects discussed included a 2026 fire training power-prop replacement (increased slightly to $805,000) and a 2027 interior renovation of Fire Station 44 (project budget $930,000).

Design, program study and next steps for the training facility Tony Rome (facilities) and the police department described the program updates completed since the original 2019 study. The 2024 study refined the floor plan, reduced the building from a previously considered two stories to a single story to eliminate elevator maintenance and better meet operational needs, added site security fencing and solar-panel concepts, and addressed range ventilation and other safety systems. Tony Rome said, “We did change from a 2‑story building to a 1‑story building… Eliminates the elevator I have to maintain.”

The committee also advanced a separate staff recommendation to forward a supplemental agreement with the architect/engineer for continued design and construction administration services. Staff identified the consultant as April Wilker LLC and said the supplemental agreement would carry the project from schematic/preliminary design into final construction documents and construction administration; the staff presentation said the construction manager will be selected in the next several months and will coordinate with the architect. The contract amounts discussed in the meeting were not fully legible in the staff presentation transcript; staff filed the supplemental agreement for city-council consideration and the committee recommended forwarding it.

Committee action and vote A motion to recommend the city manager’s CIP and maintenance plan for public safety to the committee of the whole passed unanimously by voice vote. A separate motion recommending approval of Supplemental Agreement No. 1 with the architect/engineer for the police training facility also passed unanimously and will go to city council for final approval.

Funding and fiscal context Staff repeatedly noted that some projects are timed to align with external funding and that the CIP assumes a mix of pay‑as‑you‑go funding, reallocated local sales-tax resources, and bonding. Staff also cautioned that a potential federal funding freeze would force a reprioritization of projects if federal monies the city expects were no longer available.

The committee did not adopt final appropriations; it recommended advancing the CIP and associated contract(s) to the committee of the whole and, where appropriate, to city council for final approval.