Marshfield City Hall. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU) — The City of Marshfield has won an $800,000 grant for its new police station.
Police Chief Jody Geurink says they have been planning this long-awaited project on a tight $10 million budget, so any outside funding will help. “This $800,000 will help keep the project on track. [Right now] we have a plan that is within the budget, but it was tight. So this gives us contingency so we can keep it moving.”
The department stripped out several items to get the project under budget, including an indoor shooting range, additional garage space, and an on-site impound. Geurink says this grant won’t allow them to add any of those projects back, but they will keep searching for other funding sources that could bring some of those items back on the table. “We will continue to look for other funding sources and do some value engineering, so hopefully we can slowly build back some of those things that we have cut. [If we do that], we will have a better chance of having this building be sustainable for the next 40 years.”
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Geurink adds that the project has been in the works for more than a decade. Documents he’s found in the department’s archives show informal discussions about the need for a new station dating back to 2013.
City Administrator Steve Barg has previously described the current building as a “rat maze” that the department has made do with, but the time has come to move on. Features that will be included with the new building are more office and evidence storage space, dedicated training areas, and improved functionality.
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The funding comes from the Wisconsin Department of Administration’s Competitive Non-State Grant program, which recently awarded $1.1 million to the Grand Theater in Wausau for its Second Century campaign.
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