After more than a year of work, Wright City is opening a new suite of offices for its police department, marking the halfway point of a project to modernize the city’s law enforcement headquarters.

The former city administration offices on North Second Street have been completely renovated for police use. Officers will begin working out of that space on the south side of the building, as city staff prepare to renovate the old police offices on the north half of the building.

Demolition and renovation have been ongoing at the old city hall since February 2019. City Administrator Jim Schuchmann said to keep costs low, much of the work in the building has been done by him personally. Schuchmann was formerly a contractor by trade.

The open main room of the old city hall has been divided into a clerical area, offices for the police chief and administrative officers, and a secure entry foyer lined on three sides with bullet-resistant walls. Other areas of the old city hall have been replaced with a conference room, evidence storage, and a small galley kitchen which Schuchmann said city police have never had.

“They’re already moving in. The coffee pot showed up here Monday,” Schuchmann commented late last week.

Much of the work that went into the renovation is now hidden away where most people won’t see. Furnace and air conditioning units were replaced and relocated to make those systems more efficient, much of the electrical system was completely redone, and other changes were made to utilities behind the walls and below ground. The work was needed to correct issues from the 1996 remodel that converted an existing building into the city’s offices, Schuchmann said.

“It became evident, right off the bat, as soon as we started taking down ceiling tiles, we were going to have to tear all this out,” Schuchmann said. “It was going to be more work to try and figure out how to make (the existing systems) work, than just tear it out.”

Police Chief Matt Eskew said he’s excited to get his officers moved into the renovated side of the building. He said the new area will prepare the police department for continued growth.

“This building should sustain us for quite some time,” and will enable future growth, Eskew commented. “This is so nice and professional. We have something to be proud of.”

The police department currently has up to seven or eight staff members on shift during the day.

Eskew added that he’s enthusiastic to have new security cameras and improved working spaces. New police interview rooms will be added in the second half of the renovation, he said.

Once officers have moved into their new space, renovation of the old police area will begin immediately. Officials hope for the full project to be done by spring 2021.

Project cost

Schuchmann estimates the first half of the police department renovation has cost about $250,000.

“In that number, we’ve already purchased quite a bit of materials for the other (half),” Schuchman said.

The initial project estimate for the entire building was $500,000. Some of the work already done serves both halves of the building, so Schuchmann estimates the project will easily be under budget.

Funding for the renovation has in most part been provided by a 2016 bond issue approved by voters. The project, along with renovation of a new city hall on Westwoods Road, was meant to be done by outside contractors in 2017.

But project bids for that work came in at more than $2 million, far more than the city’s budget. Since hiring Schuchmann in 2017 to take over the project in-house, with minimal contractors, the project estimate dropped to $1.5 million for both buildings.

“We’re coming in way under the original budget, and we’re doing probably four times what was originally projected to be done,” Schuchmann commented.

He said about 80 percent of project funding has come from the 2016 bond issue. Other funds have come from the city’s sale of its water and sewer utilities in 2018.