Shortly after approving a $2.7 million-maximum bond package last month for street, drainage and other infrastructure projects, Starkville aldermen could begin a process Tuesday of authorizing up to $3 million for improvements to Starkville Police Department’s headquarters.
If approved, the financing plan would allow SPD to maintain a permanent home at Starkville’s current administrative home once the new city hall, located at the end of Main Street, is constructed.
Aldermen discussed renovating SPD’s current facility in March after ending months of speculation surrounding a potential purchase of Cadence Bank’s Main Street property for a similar use.
In that meeting, the board members showed interest a plan that would renovate a majority of City Hall for police use, provide additional structural improvements to the building’s exterior and improve parking.
The partial renovation, as presented, planned to renovate about 65 percent of the back portion of the building and provide about 17,970 square feet of renovated space for less than the $2.55 million price tag floated for Cadence’s property.
Additional exterior and parking improvements called for by Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins were expected to push the City Hall renovation’s price tag to about $2.7 million.
A detailed list of planned renovations is not present in the city’s e-packet.
Aldermen voted 5-0 in that meeting to end negotiations with Cadence after a Shafer and Associates comparison showed the city would need at least $800,000 to prepare the bank for police usage.
Officials hoped to acquire the building by using proceeds from selling the city’s current administrative home and surplus lagoon space north of Starkville in conjunction with $1.3 million worth of certificates of participations (COPs) left over from the prior administration’s City Hall renovation project.
Other business
Aldermen are expected to authorize bid advertisements associated with two drainage projects to be funded by April’s improvement bonds.
The city will replace substandard stormwater piping in the Huntington Park subdivision with a $150,000 line item, while the Green Hills area will see an estimated $68,341 drain-reshaping project.
Construction plans and specifications for both projects, documents state, are completed, and the city has worked through right of way issues.
Work could begin in early or mid-July, depending on how well the bidding process goes for Starkville.
Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in City Hall’s municipal courtroom.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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