Voters in Gardner, Kansas just approved a new justice center. It will house both the police department and the municipal court.
The 52-year-old building is starting to show off its age, and some residents have noticed just passing by.
“It looked pretty raggedy,” Gardner resident Tim Moore said. “For a growing city like Gardner, I think it's time.”
“You need safety, you need a place to put the people who aren't doing things properly and yeah it's a good thing for Gardner,” Gardner resident Joe Neneman said.
Gardner Police Chief Jim Pruetting said the department’s roll call area is housed right next to the holding cell.
“So if we have someone in the holding cell, we can't really conduct our briefings, our roll calls in that space and that's the only space in the building that we can use,” Pruetting said.
Pruetting said the building has no room for growth with its growing community.
“Gardner is the fastest growing city in Kansas. As we continue to grow and the staff grows with the city's growth, then we're going to need the space,” Pruetting said. “We have five sergeants and three corporals that share this office here.”
Pruetting said they’ve tried to create as much space as they can.
“We've created office space from every closet, every nook and cranny in the building, up to this point,” Pruetting said. “We just don't have the office space to accommodate to people we have now.”
Pruetting said the new $13.725 million justice center is exactly what the department needs.
“We were very excited when the vote came in,” Pruetting said.
The justice center will be roughly 30,000 square feet, almost three times the size of its current space. It will house both the municipal court along with the police department.
Right now, plans are underway of what exactly the new justice center will look like. But police officials say it will be located near 167th and Moonlight.
They hope to begin construction in June 2018, and then taking roughly 14 months to complete.
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