The idea of remodeling or even expanding the Sedona Police Department has been talked about for several years. But soon, that talk will turn to reality.
Late last month the city put out a request for quali­fications for the design phase of the remodel, which is budgeted for $208,000. The design will occur this fiscal year with work — estimated at $2.2 million — to take place over the following two fiscal years.

“One of the biggest issues is that the layout is not effi­cient,” City Engineer Andy Dickey said.

“There are uses within the building that are not well connected.”

The project will consist of two phases — improve­ments and expansion of the women’s locker room and an overall face-lift of the building. To minimize renova­tion expenses, space that is already considered adequate should attempt to remain, the RFQ states. The project may require an expansion of square footage through additions to the existing structure.

“We’ll be reanalyzing the initial study [done in 2016] that we already have and seeing what we can use from that study and what we can do with the current space allocation and how we can improve upon it,” Associate Engineer Ryan Mortillaro said. 

Part of the redesign, as of now, includes connecting the police department building with that of the courts. Currently there is a walkway between the two. The courts shares a building with the city clerk’s office and council/court chambers. The design phase of moving the court office and chambers to an adjoining property to city hall, which was purchased three years ago, is currently underway. 
This expansion of the police department will provide additional space for offices or conference rooms. Dickey said the court’s office space could be used as a temporary home to police administra­tors during the construction phase. In addition, the entry way to the police department will be extended outward.

Within the $2.2 million budget there’s money set aside for possible tempo­rary relocation of some of the police department operations. Dickey said in terms of the duration of the construction, they’ll have a better idea once the design phase is complete.
In 2016 a needs assess­ment of the current police department was conducted. It found several deficien­cies, primarily based upon the configuration of the building. Dickey said that while they’ll be using parts of the 2016 study, refine­ments have been made since then, primarily to stay within the budget.

“The existing facility was not originally conceived to house a police station,” the assessment states. “The building was originally constructed as an office complex that was sold to the city of Sedona prior to completion of construc­tion. Some changes were made to the SPD building to accommodate some police functions such as the addi­tion of holding cells and underground parking, but the overall facility construc­tion was not planned or built to accommodate the unique needs and use of a public safety institution. 

“While the department has done an excellent job working within the resources they have, due to the expansion of the SPD staff, the current facility is inadequate to serve the intended purpose.”
SPD Chief Charles Husted said he and his staff have been involved in the remodel discussion process from the outset and appreci­ates the cooperation between his department and others.

“Some functions at Sedona Police Department have outgrown our current facility,” Husted said. “For example, as we strive to further diversify our work­force through the hiring of additional female officers, our women’s locker room is in need of expansion.”

Husted added that the remodel also affords the department the opportunity to be intentionally consid­erate of their staff’s mental health needs by creating a quiet space area that can also be used as a lactation room should the need arise.

“Additionally, the intense snow events from earlier in the year revealed that we need to improve our emer­gency operations center capacity, which requires added infrastructure in our existing station footprint,” he said.