The Public Safety Committee recently met and discussed possibilities for inclusion of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) into the new Public Safety Building.

By Alex Reidy

The latest meeting of the Public Safety Building Project Building Committee on May 5 continued where it left off last time, by discussing the possibility of a PPP, (Public Private Partnership), that could be added onto the new PSB (Public Safety Building).

A PPP would mean that in addition to the PSB that is being proposed to be built on 90 Washington St., the leftover square footage could be used for an additional building. Examples were shown of affordable housing, labs, etc., in order to create proper use of all additional space available.

These additions could be placed to the side of the PSB or on top of it. That is where issues of funding and technical problems could come into play as high-rise steel would be needed to create anything above the two-story PSB. More conversation about the possibility of a PPP was hinted at taking place in the future when more substantial progress has been made on the PSB itself.

As of last meeting, the Committee voted to remove parking offices, constituent services, and decreased officer shower rooms from two to one. They agreed upon coordinated office and work station types with the building master of the project, and with shared conference, work, and breakrooms on both floors. Currently the project is at an estimated 84,000 sq. feet but concerns about a realistic budget and defendable position were prominent in discussions about bringing the proposal before the City Council.

Rooms that were voted upon in the meeting were the Training Spaces, Wellness Center, Community Policing, Simulation and Tactical Training, Evidence and Processing, Fire Administration, Fire Investigations.

Training spaces included classroom style rooms both bookable by the Police and Fire Department. The Wellness Center is essentially a gym available to officers and staff. Its area is 4000 sq. ft., which is a massive improvement over the current gym in the current PSB. Community Policing is an office space for the 7 ward community police officers. Simulation and Tactical training is a room for simulation training technology that includes firearms training and real life tactical situations.

Evidence and Processing is the in-house evidence storage. Fire Administration would be an office space for the Fire Chief, and Fire Investigations would be an office for the investigations of the causes of fires and interfacing with constituents for when reports of insurance claims are needed.

All rooms were voted for and approved by the Committee. No public comments were made.