New MPS building grows to new heights
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Jerry Bontrager with E.L. Crawford Construction works Friday on the support beams for the roof of the new Maryville Public Safety building under construction at First and Vine streets.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — Construction is well underway and on schedule at the new Maryville Public Safety building, located at First and Vine streets and Keith Wood, Maryville Public Safety director, is excited.
Not only will the building offer more space for operations, but also a more prominent location, both in physical location and in the minds of the residents who approved a half-cent capital improvements sales tax to fund the construction.
“That’s a huge symbol of the community supporting us,” he said. “That’s huge.”
Recently Wood spoke about the $4 million project at a Maryville Rotary Club meeting.
“The biggest thing that I get every day is ‘How’s that building coming?’” Wood said. “If you drive by there you know that in the last week or 10 days it’s gone a lot more vertical on us. I think that they’re near putting the trusses up.”
Casey Lance, site superintendent with E.L. Crawford Construction said the project is on budget and on schedule.
“We’re on schedule, no problems. Everything’s going smooth. It’ll be middle of winter before we’re completely closed in. It’ll move pretty fast. We’ll start the interior finishes.”
Wood said as of Friday there were 139,000 pounds of Nucor steel on site and once the framing is completed, the skin will go on pretty quick.
Wood said the contract gives E.L. Crawford 360 days to complete the building. The project broke ground in June and for about two months the Maryville Street Department worked to tear out parts of the old Washington Middle School found underground and prepare the dirt for concrete. Wood believes it will be completed around August 2020.
“It’s been fun to watch it come out of the ground,” he said. “In fact, if they keep going at the rate they are I wouldn’t be surprised to see them get done early. Again, weather permitting.”
A major upgrade
Currently, MPS operations are handled from an old grocery store built in the early 1960s. The city acquired it in the mid 1970s, and MPS moved into it in 1975.
“It has done its duty; It’s getting a little tired in places,” Wood said. Wood doesn’t know the plan for the current building, but mentioned the Maryville Elks Lodge had at one point been interested. He said the city has had the building appraised.
“There aren’t any current negotiations going on with it right now,” he said.
The current building is about 8,600 square feet. The new building will be about 21,500 square feet. Going through a couple different phases while standing on the lot, Wood said sometimes he doesn’t feel it’s that big, while other times it feels enormous.
‘It has done its duty; It’s getting a little tired in places.’
– Keith Wood
Director of Maryville Public Safety
“It’s going to be about two-and-a-half times our current space,” said Wood.
The architect from Williams, Spurgeon, Kuhl and Freshnock design firm told him that when moving from a building where doing a lot with a little, they’ll be surprised in how they still use every inch of that larger building.
“It’s like moving into a bigger house, you still use all the closets,” Wood said. “It’s going to be amazing when we get in there. … We’ll actually have windows in the new building. Some of us are excited about that.”
As a comparison, he said the new fire bay of the new building would almost hold the current building entirely.
“I think it’s going to be positioned very nicely also,” Wood said. “As you travel down First Street you’re pretty much looking at the front door.”
Wood said public buildings should be visible and the police and fire station should be on any “town tour” for visitors. He’s looking into a couple décor opportunities to add to the exterior, perhaps some permanent bronze statues.
“For years, I don’t think we’ve had that sense of pride and that source of pride,” he said. “I’m certain we will have that now.”
State-of-the-art secure facility
Other design elements that help create this state-of-the-art facility include a sallyport, or garage, on the north side of the building will offer a location for officers to pull patrol cars into the building for safe transport of prisoners.
The facility will have a holding cell, but not a jail.
“I’m glad that the county has a jail and I’m darn glad to use it,” Wood said.
Another element will help Lt. Ron Christian, in charge of evidence, to have a lot more storage in the new building. A new area will allow for some processing to be done locally, so not everything has to be sent to Jefferson City.
“The court requirements in how long to retain stuff has changed over the years to allow time periods for appeal to run out,” he explained. “It’ll have locks and features on it that will tell us when someone’s coming and going.”
Regarding security, the new building will offer a lot more features including a secure door between the fire bays and the police side.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic that comes and goes for the fire division that you may or may not want to have access on the police side,” Wood explained.
On the 7,000-plus square foot fire bay side, there will be a dedicated area for washers, dryers, and a mezzanine for extra storage.
The pull-through bays will house nearly every fire fighting implement the city owns, said Wood.
Trucks will drive through the bays from north to south and exit onto First Street. He explained the city will be considering some sort of lighting mechanism to caution drivers.
Other elements include two concrete block structures, visible on site now, that will house the joint 911 communications center and a generator. The dispatch office will have a concrete cap to help keep it secure.
Consolidated 911 update
With regard to 911 equipment, Wood explained that most of it in use is 15 years old or older and should have been updated around the five to seven year mark.
“We find ourselves at kind of an opportune time … because all of the 911 equipment in the county — whether it’s ours or Nodaway County’s — has reached it’s lifespan,” Wood said. “… We are both in bad need of equipment. In fact, Nodaway County has some issues going on that … we’re prepared to kind of pick up the ball and carry it for the duration until we can get into the new building.”
This week, he and others from MPS and the sheriff’s office were scheduled to meet with vendors for 911, radio and recorder equipment. The new equipment likely will offer updated features, he said including text or email to 911.
The city and county still have a lot to hash out before ordering equipment, but Wood said they’d like to have it figured out by early January at the latest to put some funding on the April ballot.
“That building, realistically, is going to serve a police/fire function for the next 50 years,” he said. “That’s kind of hard to think about. This community’s been good to us. We get a great deal of public support.”
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Keith Wood, director of Maryville Public Safety, looks up in the 911 center in the new Maryville Public Safety building under construction at First and Vine streets. The dispatch office will have a concrete cap to help keep it secure. The additional concrete block will fortify the area in case of severe weather.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood, right, stands with Lt. Ron Christian and Detective Ryan Glidden near the lobby area of the new Maryville Public Safety building. The public door to the building will be on the west side of the building.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Maryville Public Safety Director Keith Wood gestures toward his office in the southwest corner of the new Maryville Public Safety building under construction at First and Vine streets. With more than 40 years behind a badge, and 30 of those here in Maryville, Wood said he’s excited to have windows in his office.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Keith Wood, director of Maryville Public Safety, speaks to members of the Maryville Rotary Club at its most recent meeting. Wood presented the club with an update on the construction of the new Maryville Public Safety building located at First and Vine streets.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Skyler Moran, left, and Jerry Bontrager, center, with E.L. Crawford work Friday on the roof structure of the new Maryville Public Safety building at First and Vine streets.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Skyler Moran, with E.L. Crawford, adds support to roof beams of the new Maryville Public Safety building at First and Vine streets on Friday.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Shown Friday is the area where evidence will be stored at the new Maryville Public Safety building under construction at First and Vine streets.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Maryville Public Safety officers Lt. Ron Christian and Detective Ryan Glidden stand Friday where the holding cell will be located in the new Maryville Public Safety building. Keith Wood, director of Maryville Public Safety said the cell will be used for short stays, and not overnights.
SKYE POURNAZARI/THE FORUM
Shown Friday is the new Maryville Public Safety building under construction at First and Vine streets. This photograph offers a look east from the police side of the building. Where the concrete juts in at the right is just about where the fire bay area begins. The building will have a wall and a secure door to separate the fire division area from the police side.
