The new City of Great Bend Justice Center at 12th and Baker is taking shape, with the concrete slab in place and the steel girders emerging from the surface. The nearly $9 million, 20,000-square-foot facility, the new home to the police station and municipal courthouse, is expected to be completed by the end of August, Police Chief Steve Haulmark said.
“It’s moving right ahead,” he said. They are excited to move from their current cramped and outdated location to 1217 Williams.
The trusses are going up and the “envelope” should be done in June. With the building closed, work inside will begin in earnest, he said.
The landscaping will be done in July, he said. It will reach “substantial completion” by mid-August with a move-in date of August 31 (mobilization for the project began last September).
Meanwhile, he said they are talking to sellers of furnishings and other equipment.
In October of 2020, a committee appointed by Mayor Cody Schmidt began site preparation and selection. That committee included Schmidt, Haulmark, Police Captain Scott Bieberle, City Councilman Cory Urban, and Building Officer Logan Burns (now interim city administration), along with community members Barry Stalcup, Andy Mingbenback, and Adam Sciacca.
The Great Bend Police Department’s current headquarters was built and occupied in 1938. Since then, the fire department has relocated and the courthouse has relocated there.
Great Bend voters in November 2021 approved a 0.10% sales tax to help fund a new facility. The city is also raising approximately $1.5 million toward the project.
The city council in August 2022 approved the maximum guaranteed price of $7,790.59. That figure was prepared by Wichita construction company McCown-Gordan, which the city hired in December 2020 as a project manager.
GLMV Architecture of Wichita was selected as the architect by the council in August 2021. In February of last year, the council approved the conceptual design and budget estimates.
But, taking into account the design alternatives, $498,500 for the architect and $420,000 for furniture, fixtures, computer equipment, the total cost was $8,883,273.
That cost exceeds current available revenue of $902,667.
To make up the difference, the city will use $677,765 in state COVID-19 Strengthening People and Revitalizing Kansas (SPARK) funds; $214,902 insurance proceeds; and $10,000 in interest from federal COVID Relief American Rescue Plan Act payments.
The project was first tackled in 2016 when the council approved an engineering study for the current Williams Street Police Station. The idea was dusted off again in September 2020.
