EDWARDSVILLE - The City of Edwardsville has asked the public to attend a special ribbon cutting, open house and tours of the new $12.4 million Public Safety Building in Downtown Edwardsville on Saturday.
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A brief ribbon-cutting and flag-raising ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. in front of the new facility at 333 South Main St. City staff will then provide guided tours for the public until 1 p.m. Final move-in for both departments will be in mid December.
Construction of the 51,000-square-foot combined police/fire headquarters began just over one year ago. Designed by FGM Architects, Inc., and constructed by IMPACT Strategies, Inc., the two-story structure features a fully-hardened dispatch center on the first floor to protect against tornadoes and earthquakes. A three-bay police sally port allows for the safe and efficient moving of suspects into a state-of-the art holding and processing area. Detectives, sergeants, patrol officers and staff all have ample room for daily operations.
Fire and EMS operations will also be on the first floor, including offices, living quarters and a six-vehicle truck and ambulance bay. The second floor features administrative offices as headquarters for both fire and police. It also has conference rooms, police locker rooms, fire department bunk area, and a joint-use training room and physical fitness area. The training room will double as an emergency operations center, and can be used as a community room for as many as 80 participants. A 10,000 square-foot basement provides room for future growth.
James Whiteford the new deputy chief for the Edwardsville Fire Department, said, “We are excited about the new building and it will offer a lot of opportunities for both the fire and police department and allow the expanded administration room we need with more offices. It will be much more efficient. We have added six fire fighters in the past two years and now created the deputy chief position.”
Whiteford will be sworn in to the deputy chief position at the next Edwardsville City Council meeting.
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