Groundbreaking planned for public safety center

Proposed public safety center — “the most unique and the best building that Kyle has ever built.” 

Ten days after the City Council voted unanimously, in spite of concerns raised by member Yvonne Flores-Cale, to spend $30 million and change to build a new public safety center, the city will be holding groundbreaking ceremonies at the Kohlers Crossing site of the new structure.

The $30,139,839 “not-to-exceed” contract awarded by the council Tuesday to Bartlett Cocke General Contractors is significantly less than the $37 million voters approved last November in a bond election for the purpose of “planning, designing, constructing, improving and equipping of a public safety facility.”

Flores-Cale’s objections revolved around the fact that, according to the plans for the building approved by the council’s vote, approximately a fourth of the first floor and more than half of the second floor of the proposed building will be set aside for use by city staff members who are not part of the police department. For all practical purposes, at least a third of the public safety center will actually be overflow from city hall.

“The police department deserves better,” Flores-Cale said. “They deserve to have a building that is a hundred percent their own.”

College Station's police facility

She said the city should have followed its original plans to copy the police headquarters in College Station “because that was something our officers liked.”

“So to go in there and take a third of it or 22,000 square feet and dedicate it for city staff I think is irresponsible,” she said. “Now it’s even going to be more money when staff leaves. It’s going to cost the taxpayers more to rebuild that building the way it was originally supposed to be.”

Council member Robert Rizo countered “This building was approved by voters as a public safety center, not just a police department. We picked a bigger building (than College Station’s) so we could alleviate two needs that we have in our city and eventually the police department will incorporate the entire building.”

“The reason I would not want to use the exact same College Station plans is because we knew from the start we wanted to modify something that was out there for Kyle and Kyle’s needs,” council member Dex Ellison said. “We’re not College Station. We’re not that same community. We wanted to provide a public safety center that was unique to Kyle and the needs that our police department has.”

Ellison said the center will be “a modern and unique and advanced building that will last for decades to come … It will be the most unique and the best building that Kyle has ever built.”

Mayor Travis Mitchell said he was “humbled and proud” to vote for the contract.

“I can imagine (the center) will become more and more a part of our recruitment (for new police officers),” Mitchell said. “We want the best officers and that’s a big part of what this is designed to bring to us.”

“It’s a very exciting time and I am very excited to see this building finally go up,” Captain Pedro Hernandez, a 25-year veteran of the Kyle Police Department, told the council. “It’s a long time coming. I am excited. It’s going to be the best looking building in Hays County. I am confident of that.”

The groundbreaking ceremonies will take place a week from today from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at 1760 Kohlers Crossing, the city said Thursday in an official announcement. Parking will be available on Marketplace Avenue.