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New RI police station still in the works
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The Rock Island Police Department needs a new home, and city officials plan to present a design and location for a new building to the city council sometime this year. The project will come with an estimated $19 million price tag, and the target for completion in the city's proposed five-year capital improvement plan is 2016. Built in 1940, the police stationat 316 16th St. in downtown Rock Island no longer meets the needs of the police department, city manager Thomas Thomas said. "Operational wise, they've outgrown that facility," he said. "We have to do something." Police Chief Jeff VenHuizen said evidence files are stored in seven parts of the building instead of in one centralized location, and space is running out. "We are using every available nook and cranny in the building, but there's nowhere left for us to go. Our efficiency is being affected," he said. "We can longer continue with a Band-Aid approach." The lobby on the first floor of the building is too small and often gets crowded, Chief VenHuizen added, while the booking facility and records division are inconveniently located on the second floor. "You can imagine bringing someone in on a DUI and having to take them up several flights of stairs," he said. "It creates a safety concern." Mr. Thomas and other city officials are working with an architect to come up with a proposal for a new building. Mr. Thomas said he'll a present a single recommendation that could involve property acquisition, but until he makes a presentation to the council, he won't divulge details. After a new police station is built, the old station will remain in use by the city, likely by other city departments, he said. The current police station is 22,000 square feet, but a study commissioned in 2011 determined that a 48,000-square-foot building is needed by the police department, which has 110 employees. The report was written byMcClaren, Wilson & Lawrie Architects, a Wheaton firm, and cost the city $94,000. The architects estimated the cost of building a new station on a three-acre site would be $16 million to $19 million. Bonds will be issued to fund the project, according to the capital improvement plan, which has yet to be approved by the council. The bonds would be paid off with revenue from gaming taxes. Ald. Stephen Tollenaer, 4th Ward, said he wants more information on the project."I'm not sold on it yet. I'd like to see how much it would cost to modernize the old station." He'd also like the police department to stay close to city hall and the Rock Island County Justice Center, but said there were plenty of properties in the area the city could acquire for a reasonable price. "Operational wise, they've outgrown that facility," Mr. Thomas said. "We have to do something." 
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Today is Tuesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2013. There are 224 days left in the year.
1863 -- 150 years ago: On Monday the 11th inst. on Center Ridge in Mercer County,some citizens got out their cannon to celebrate the taking of Richmond. The gun wasoverloaded and burst. No one was injured, but one 30-pound piece went though thesecond story of a house.
1888 -- 125 years ago: The old folks concert at the Harper Theater last night to benefit St.Luke's Cottage Hospital, attracted a large audience.
1913 -- 100 years ago: Unless depredation by vandals in Rock Island parks is halted,special policemen will be assigned to night duty to protect the flowers and other property.
1938 -- 75 years ago: Station WHBF has received a special citation from Washington forits participation in Air Mail Week, which was observed this week throughout the nation.
1963 -- 50 years ago: A 10-year high in employment in the Quad-City area was reachedat the end of the last quarter, according to an industrial employment barometer releasedtoday.
1988 -- 25 years ago: Pee Wee teams will be able to play baseball and softball as usualon Diamond Three at Dorrance Park this summer, but after that, the ball field is doomed.County crews have put the diamond back in shape after heavy trucks marred the playingfield earlier this spring. Illinois Department of Transportation crews drove onto it to makeborings for the relocation of the junction of Illinois 84 and the Port Byron-Hillsdale road.
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