SALISBURY – How the county would fund a significant shortfall in the construction of a new public safety complex was the question that drove much of last week’s discussion with department heads and lead architects.
Last Tuesday, representatives with the county’s purchasing department and sheriff’s office and architects with MW Studios met with the Wicomico County Council to discuss the construction of a new public safety building, which will be located on an eight-acre site at the corner of Westwood Drive and Naylor Mill Road in Salisbury.
County Purchasing Agent Nicholas Rice told council members last week the construction of the new complex would be divided into two phases.
The first phase, which would be the construction of a new Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, includes roughly 58,000 square feet at an estimated cost of nearly $28 million. The second phase, which would be the construction of an emergency services department and 911 call center, includes 20,000 square feet at an estimated cost of nearly $8 million.
In the fall of 2018, a feasibility study was completed for the new public safety complex. And that November, the county purchased the 8-acre site on which to construct the facility.
“Geographically, we are centrally located,” Sheriff Mike Lewis told council members last week. “The bulk of our calls for service are actually on the west side. So that puts us right in the backyard and would cut down dramatically on our response time.”
The following year, MW Studios was awarded the project after the county issued a request for proposals. In his presentation last week, MW Studios Principal Rob Mann highlighted the project’s cost – which had increased from the initial feasibility study – and the building’s proposed design.
“I’d like to use this term of transparent fortress,” he said. “We certainly want the law enforcement officials and civilian staff that are working in that building to be safe and secured from those wishing to do them harm, but it’s equally important that we get away from the police station design language and character of the buildings that in the 60s, 70s and 80s were more penitentiary in look and more off-putting as opposed to inviting and encouraging interaction with the community.”
Mann said the public safety complex – which included offices, a training room, processing area, dispatch area and bunk facilities, among other things – was meant to serve the community for well over 50 years.
Councilman John Cannon, however, was the first to share his concerns regarding the scope of the project. He said the county had allotted funding in its capital improvement plan for a new sheriff’s office, but not an emergency services center. Officials also noted the county had not planned for the new sheriff’s office to cost $28 million.
“It’s confused me on how we are taking this and distilling it into what the county can afford,” Cannon said. “The emergency services has never been in the CIP.”
Mann said he had shared concerns about the budget with county administration early in the process. He said he believed the county’s budget for the project to be too low.
“That’s the impetus for this briefing and this meeting …,” he said. “All I can say with complete transparency and honesty is that when we had these initial conversations we felt like with the previous executive that the budget was inadequate for what the needs were going to yield.”
Councilman Ernie Davis said the county had originally planned for a $10 million project. But when a $21 million cost estimate was brought to the council at the outset, officials were told to go back to the drawing board.
“We’ve never been updated until this point …,” he said. “You drop it in our lap at the last minute … That’s why the money isn’t there.”
Lewis attributed the confusion to a lack of communication between the executive and legislative branches.
“This is what happens when you don’t have that collaboration,” he said. “We were well aware of what was going on and welcomed this opportunity to address the men and women of this council, to bring you up to speed on where we are. This is what we’ve been waiting for, we’ve been wanting to do this. But I can’t tell the county executive what to do, nor the county administrator.”
After further discussion, the council directed staff to work with Director of Administration John Psota and Finance Director Pam Oland to begin planning for the additional cost. Rice noted the county has allotted $16 million for the project to date.
“I don’t see where this money exists right now,” Cannon said. “We have a lot of reserves and maybe that’s something we could look at. I would like to say let’s get it done … I do think we have to carefully think about where we are headed.”
