Jennifer Arbogast, Glasgow Police Chief speaks at an earlier meeting of the Glasgow City Council. The Glasgow Police Department is seeking to build a new training and maintenance facility near its Pin Oak Lane location. The facility will replace the leased space the city uses along College and Franklin Streets.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
GLASGOW — The Glasgow Police Department needs a new maintenance and training facility, and the Glasgow City Council is two votes away from building one adjacent to the police headquarters along Pin Oak Lane.
Bids were received and opened at Glasgow City Hall for the project about two weeks ago. The finance committee was approached to lend more money to the project because “bids were higher than we expected,” according to Councilperson Wendell Honeycutt.
The City Council is slated to meet Friday at 6 p.m. in a special session to approve the transfer of $550,000 from the city’s general fund for the project. A time limit to respond and engage exists on the lowest bid, which was provided by Alliance Corporation, a Glasgow-based construction company.
“The finance committee reviewed everything, and it was their suggestion that we adjust the budget and appropriate the money to go on and get it built now so that we didn’t have downtime on the police cruisers and the other automobiles that they repair at the garage now,” Armstrong said.
The City of Glasgow rents a garage it uses for maintenance at the corner of East College and South Franklin Streets. The mayor said it leaks and no longer serves the city’s needs, which led to the search for a new building about two years ago.
“We’re very limited on the access getting in and out down there,” said Major Terry Flatt, Glasgow Police public information officer. “Currently, we can only work on one vehicle at a time down there at that lot.”
About $175,000 was allotted for the project during 2020, but supplies became expensive, and the project stalled. Work continued and the Gray family donated the land nearly a year ago. The site is home to the former headquarters of Gray Construction Company.
The mayor said “with the way things have been going,” it was best to take swift action to retain the cheaper bid from Alliance Corporation.
“After the first reading we can tell them it’s been accepted, and they’ll get their time frame and get it scheduled,” Armstrong said. “By the time we have our second reading, they’ll already be ready to go.”
The city hopes to see the new facility built and ready to use by the fall.