Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Members of the City of Jonesboro Capital Improvement Bonds Task Force unanimously decided on their recommendation for the location of a proposed new E-911/Real Time Crime Center.
The task force, which is chaired by city council member Brian Emison and has council members Chris Moore, John Street, Chris Gibson and Joe Hafner as members, has been in talks over the past few months to recommend the center’s location.
Under consideration by the task force was either locating the center next to the current Jonesboro Police Department on Caraway Road or tearing down the Justice Complex on Washington Avenue and building the center where it currently stands.
All four members voted in favor of putting the center on Washington Avenue, with chairman Emison recusing himself from the vote because there was no tie. While ultimately unanimous, there was dissension in the lead-up to the vote.
Moore has been in favor of putting the center on Washington Avenue, asserting that building the center downtown would ultimately save taxpayers around $1 million and increase government presence. He also pointed out the benefits of having police presence both downtown and on Caraway in a disaster event.
Street, who has argued in favor of putting the center on Caraway Road said that while the Washington location would be less expensive, “cheapest isn’t always best.” He added having a “coordinated” police department was a good thing, and having all aspects of the department in one building would eliminate travel times between the Caraway and Washington locations. Street had also spoken about flooding concerns at the Washington location.
City engineer Craig Light discussed drainage on the Washington property. He said, in total, it could cost about $3 million to fix the site’s drainage basin, which was not included in the original estimates. He said the estimates instead accounted for what it would cost for a private developer to develop the property, which would not require as extensive water management.
Moore replied that the area that had the most water buildup was closer to the old fire station, which is not where the E911/Real Time Crime Center would be.
During public comments, the majority of community members spoke in favor of building the center on Washington Avenue, citing lower construction costs, increased traffic accessibility and more.
Jonesboro resident Patti Lack read a letter from Iris Stevens, who could not attend the meeting.
“It looks like the most rational, most logical, and best choice for everyone concerned is the downtown area and choosing the Washington Avenue location. It seems definitely to be the most financially conservative choice and the most responsible one for the taxpayers,” Stevens wrote in her letter.
Lack also commented on the value of the Caraway Road site, as the city would have to purchase that land if the center was to be built there. She said that if it had taken “this long” to sell the Caraway property, it was “not a good investment.”
On the other hand, members of JPD, including Elliott, spoke in favor of the Caraway location. They spoke about not wanting to “fragment” the police department.
Elliott said putting the Real Time Crime Center and other police operations downtown would fragment JPD for the next 10 years while awaiting the second phase of the project, which would see the construction of a new police department in one location.
“Everybody’s all talking about dollars, well, I’m talking about dollars at the back end now. The back-end dollars are phase two … we don’t know what phase two is gonna look like,” Elliott explained. “It’s gonna be 10-plus years. So, we’re going to be fragmented in multiple buildings within 10 years. I can’t see anybody stepping up and come up with $20, $30 million. We’re going to drive the cost up, and the cost to build 10, 20 years from now, is going to be way more than it is today.”
Lt. David McDaniel, administrator of the Real Time Crime Center agreed that dividing the current center between two locations would not be a good idea. He added the Caraway location would set the police department up for success in the future.
“I understand it’s a lot of money,” McDaniel said. “Unfortunately, I think that we have been put off and put in damaged buildings, old buildings, buildings with asbestos and made do with being spread around for so long. If public safety is the point of the location of this building, unfortunately, I think that requires [it] to be in the Caraway Road location to keep that human element, the active team, the ability for detectives to come in and out of there, the ability for me to just walk down the hallway and confer with investigators and making sure we’re on the right path and finding new intel.”
Ultimately, the task force decided to recommend building the center on Washington Avenue.
“We have the first phase funded with the bond initiative; it’s $10 million to build a new E-911 building. The next phase costs $20 million, and that’s a new police department. And somewhere, funding has to come up with that,” Moore said. “What do you think the odds are if the public’s gonna back us and support us on that endeavor if they don’t feel like we used the first million dollars in their best interest?”
Watch the full meeting here.