The new City of Great Bend Justice Center at 12th and Baker, is taking shape, with the concrete slab in place and the steel beams rising from the surface. Completion of the 20,000-square-foot nearly $9 million facility, the new site of the Police Station and Municipal Court, is expected by the end of August, said Police Chief Steve Haulmark.
“It’s moving right along,” he said. They are excited about moving from their current cramped, outdated location at 1217 Williams.
The trusses are going up and the “envelope” should be done in June. With the building enclosed, work on the interior will get underway 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 Aug. 31 (mobilization for the project started last September).
In the meantime, he said they are talking to vendors about furnishings and other equipment.
In October of 2020, a committee appointed by Mayor Cody Schmidt began the preparation and site selection. That committee included Schmidt, Haulmark, police Capt. Scott Bieberle, City Councilman Cory Urban and Building Official 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 moved out, and the court moved into it.
Great Bend voters in November 2021 approved a .10% sales tax to help fund a new facility. The city is also tapping about $1.5 million set aside for the project.
The City Council in August 2022 approved the guaranteed maximum price of $7,790,59. That figure was prepared by Wichita construction firm McCown-Gordan, hired by the city in December 2020 as the 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, factoring in project alternates, the $498,500 for the architect and $420,000 for furnishings, fixtures, information technology equipment, the total cost came to $8,883,273.
That cost exceeds current available revenues by $902,667.
To make up the difference, the city will use $677,765 in state COVID-19 relief 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 addressed in 2016 when an engineering study for current police station on Williams Street was approved by the council. The idea was dusted off again in September 2020.
