SALISBURY – Plans to build a new public safety complex are well underway, according to a report from the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office this week.
On Tuesday, Capt. Todd Richardson with the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office provided the Wicomico County Council with an update on plans to build a new public safety complex on a nine-acre property at the corner of Westwood Drive and Naylor Mill Road in Salisbury.
In late 2017, project consultants with Crosby & Associates began a feasibility study for a new public safety complex that would house both the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s emergency services department.
“They basically came up with the fact that we were well under spaced for our area and we needed to be brought into the current times,” Richardson said.
Soon after, the sheriff’s office and county executive’s office began their search for a property to house the facility.
“On Nov. 2, 2018, a settlement went forward for the purchase of land in Westwood Industrial Park for the Wicomico County Public Safety Complex,” Richardson said. “It was purchased for $587,832.96.”
Richardson said the county issued a request for qualifications (RFQ) from architectural, civil and structural engineering firms in mid-January, and 14 vendors made the Feb. 12 deadline.
“Currently, purchasing department is in the final stages of individual evaluations,” he told the council. “Once completed a group average will be compiled and from this point the county reserves the right to start negotiations with the highest spender.”
Richardson added he has also submitted permit applications to the Wicomico County Soil Conservation District to remove existing trees on the property and prepare the lot for construction. He said the county should expect a permit by April.
“That’s where we are as far as the current situation,” he said. “We are waiting on the final evaluations from the purchasing department on the RFQ.”
More than $11 million has been included in the county’s Capital Improvement Program for the construction of the new public safety complex. The Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office will move all operations to the facility once it’s completed, though no formal timeline has been announced.
