Lucas City Council authorizes $130,141 conversion of community center into police department

The Lucas City Council voted to authorize the city manager to contract with Jones Brothers Construction and approve ancillary purchases to convert the community center into a police department, approving a project budget not to exceed $130,141.

Development Service Director Joe Hilburn told the council the conversion would create a chief’s office, leadership office, interrogation and interview rooms, an evidence room, a break/lunch room and a public waiting area. He described construction costs of $48,053, a contingency/security allocation of $12,958 and separate furniture and equipment allocations of $30,068 and $39,062, respectively. "Total police department conversion is $130,141," Hilburn said.

Council members asked detailed questions about security and evidence-room standards. Hilburn said the evidence room will be built with an interior of one-inch plywood and sheetrock to secure it, extend from floor to roof structure to prevent ceiling-tile access, and include separate ventilation and filtration. Director of Public Safety Doug Kowalski confirmed technical elements such as CJIS-compliant server requirements and said the department will work with IT to meet those standards; "it can be colocated," he said, "it just has different accesses."

Council also sought clarity that the line items were already included in the current budget. Hilburn and City Manager John Whitsall said the amounts appear in the city’s current budget and that no dollars would be drawn from reserves for this conversion.

Chris Bierman moved the authorization; the motion was seconded and carried on a voice vote.

The council’s action authorizes staff to finalize the contract and purchase the listed furniture and equipment. The council did not specify an implementation timeline in the public discussion; staff indicated additional items such as a separate camera and body-worn-camera procurement would be handled in later agenda items.