McMinnville Police To Begin Planning New Building

The McMinnville Police Department will begin talks with the AEI design group regarding a new police building.

Mayor Ben Newman said the Board of Mayor and Alderman approved an agreement with AEI during the April 23 meeting.

“The Chief of Police will sit down with Mr. Metts and figure out exactly what the Chief is looking for,” Newman said. “So they will most likely bring that back to our safety committee and possibly the building and grounds committee.”

The McMinnville Police Department currently works out of a rented office space.

Newman said the group will draw up a number of different plans during the coming months.

“First we are looking at conceptual plans. Make sure we have the concept down, look and see what possible prices are for those concepts,” Newman said. “They will probably draw up a couple of different concepts, make sure they can be within our budget.”

Newman said once the board approves the drawings, the project can go out to bid.

Newman said he looks forward to working with AEI again.

“We have worked with Peter Metts before on our Park Theater several years ago,” Newman said. “Peter Metts with AEI, he just did a fantastic job on our theater that they designed.”

The McMinnville Police Department uses a portion of a factory warehouse as the current building.

“It’s just the building isn’t necessarily the best fit for a police department. It’s not the best place for it,” Newman said. “It is a long, narrow front office and it is just not well suited for it. The utilities are fairly high. There is a lot of maintenance and upkeep on the building.”

Newman said he hopes to get the project rolling within the next 12 months.