Chatham-Kent police are downsizing a proposed renovation project in the headquarters' front lobby.
The original drawings came in at $268,629 but after eliminating some key elements and re-categorizing the total estimated cost sits at $133,163.
Chief Dennis Poole says they need the extra space to accommodate fingerprinting as part of background checks that will be federally mandated this summer. "And of course we have our collision reporting centre in there now which has turned out to be very successful," says Poole. "In addition to that, we are looking at just changing the layout in there to accommodate some officers working at the front desk that can do alternative type response calls over the phone or through Cop Logic, the computer system."
The biggest savings came in eliminating an exterior enclosure over the entrance at a cost of over $50,000 and re-categorizing and $72,000 was expended to a building maintenance budget that needed to be done regardless of the renos. The proposed project is expected to go before the police board for final approval in February or March.