TUPELO, Miss. (AP) - An altered plan for a new Tupelo Police Department headquarters will cost just under $10 million, according to officials.
Police Chief Bart Aguirre and architect Will Lewis of JBHM Architects shared the most recent version with the city council Tuesday. The city hopes to create schematic designs and put the project out for bids in four months.
The current headquarters was built in 1966.
Aguirre said the plan at 38,150 square feet has more square-footage than all previous versions made public.
“It has some frills in it but not as much as earlier plans,” he said.
To reduce costs, architects cut a kitchenette from a community room and shrunk space for the locker room areas and replaced enclosed office space for lower-ranking officers with partitioned cubicles. The plan adds a gun-cleaning area and areas for fingerprinting and evidence collection.
Officials have said funding will likely come from a combination of issuing bonds and $1.5 million from asset forfeiture acquired from a partnership with federal and state authorities in a multiyear contraband cigarette sting. The operation also resulted in Tupelo gaining four acres of land where the new two-story facility will locate.
Altogether, Tupelo has $5.3 million currently available for the police facility.
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