Council could OK $800,000 to furnish Cape police facility
Of the $21.6 million passed by Cape Coral City Council in July for the police department’s new headquarters, almost $800,000 could be spent on furnishing and designing the new digs.
The architectural firm ADG would receive $36,000 for interior design work, with the rest of the funds going toward the purchase and installation of lockers, mechanized file systems, audio visual equipment and office furniture.
Council members questioned city staffers on the procurement Monday, and are slated to vote on it next week.
Councilmember Dolores Bertolini explained that the funds for furnishing the building had to be separate from the vote for the overall project.
“We knew it would have to come back before us. You can’t do the furniture at the same time as the building,” she said.
The funds are included in the current budget.
Deputy Chief Jay Murphy said the CCPD will use as much of its current furniture as it possibly can.
“We will maximize the use of that existing inventory,” he said.
Some pieces of furniture, however, will not make the move.
“The modular furniture is pushing 15 to 16 years. It’s not our intent to try to use that,” Murphy said, adding that it would cost more to repair and move the furniture than to replace it.
The 100,000-square-foot public safety building is being constructed by Balfour Beatty, and is on schedule to open this summer.
The project’s history includes controversies over cost, and citizens voted against a previous $128 million incarnation of the building in 2007 that would have included fire department operations.
Bertolini wanted to ensure that one of the reasons cited for the new building — mold in the current building, which is 36,000 square feet — would not be moved in along with the salvable furniture.
“That building has mold. We don’t want to transfer it over,” she said.