News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Cookeville City Council approved an $879,000 contract Thursday night to begin architectural planning on the city’s new police station.
“This council has been united in working to get a site and to start a site to build us a brand new police station,“ Dr. Charles Womack said. “It’s going to be expensive, but we need it.”
Police officials will work with AEG and AEI to plan the 37-thousand square foot facility. Both companies were involved in the initial needs assessment for the department. The agreement includes all architectural and engineering work on the facility inside and out. A separate geotechnical partner may been needed.
The city purchased land for the facility at the corner of Neal Street and Old Walton Road earlier this year.
“It did take some twists and turns, we did have challenge finding the property,” Council Member Dwight Henry said. “This is an exciting day and I’m delighted we’ve arrived at this point. We stayed faithful to the task.”
The city has been talking about replacing the department below the Cookeville Performing Arts Center for at least ten years. Serious conversations began in 2013 with the first consultations with outside firms in 2015.
“I can’t wait until the police department is a reality and on the surface instead of being subterranean in some basement,” Council Member Jim Woodford said. “We are proud of our police department and I want to be able to see visually a symbol of our police department.”
Construction and planning are expected to take two to three years.
