Greenfield Police Department’s current station is at 116 S. State St.
Greenfield Police Department’s current station is at 116 S. State St.
Greenfield took another step toward construction of a new police headquarters, with the city’s board of works accepting a bid for the scoping period of the project.

The winning bid, out of four submissions, was submitted as a joint effort between Core Construction and GM Development, and was recommended for approval on behalf of a committee that reviewed bids for the project.

Core is a nationally recognized construction company with an emphasis on civic, public education and public safety projects. Its headquarters is in Texas, but it has Indiana offices in Indianapolis and Schererville. GM is an Indiana-based real estate development and investment company, and is currently part of the attempt to build a data center in Henry County.

“We are selecting them to take us into this adventure that we went on and get us into the scoping period, which will give us a guaranteed not-to-exceed price,” Greenfield Police Department Chief Brian Hartman told the city’s Board of Works at its March 25 meeting.

A scoping period is an early component of the project planning process. It mainly consists of information gathering to move an idea to a more formal phase, which includes development of alternative plans and environmental screenings.

Scoping periods also usually determine a concrete not-to-exceed amount, a maximum amount for a project.

Over the past few years, Greenfield police administration has been pursuing a new home for the department. The current police station at 116 S. State St. has been the department’s headquarters since the 1970s. Leaders say it has become more and more cramped as the city’s force has expanded.

“The current police station is no longer capable of meeting the daily needs of the department or the community,” Hartman said.

Last year, Greenfield officials designated 26 acres north of Labcorp’s campus an economic development area, with the city’s redevelopment commission pledging to pay $1.7 million for this land. The primary reason for this is to build a new police headquarters.

Greenfield deputy chief Chuck McMichael said last year that the goal for a future police station is for it to be more than 40,000 square feet and for it to include a larger evidence room and larger locker rooms, among other features.

“It’s about getting us into the 21st century with technology and things that attract people to our department and that keep our current officers excited to come to work in,” he said.

Four bids were submitted for the scoping portion of this project: the Core-GM joint bid; Meyer Najem, who is building Amplify Hancock Innovation Center; a joint bid between Garmong Construction, who built the current Hancock County Jail, and Skender Construction; and another joint bid between F.A. Wilhelm and Convoy.

According to copies of the scoring rubric obtained by the Daily Reporter, bids were scored on a variety of factors, including relevant team experience, financing capability, proposed schedule, and relevant experience with build-operate-transfer agreements.

In a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement, an entity such as a city allows a private company to build and operate a facility. Then, after a certain number of years, the project would be transferred back to the city.

The city also has a similar build-operate-transfer agreement for the garage of The Yard at Depot Park.

Hartman said at the meeting he cannot know exactly what an accurate price point would be for this until American Structurepoint, selected last year for schematic design and design development for the future headquarters, and a company that goes through a scoping period can give the police department concrete numbers.

He said if the projected cost of the project generated by the companies receiving the bid is higher than expected, the police department can walk away at no cost.

“We still own the design work, the design and architect work, from American Structurepoint because we paid for that. So, that will be ours forever,” Hartman said.

Because of the surging costs of materials after the pandemic, rough estimates of constructing a new police station have skyrocketed from just under $10 million at the beginning of the decade to $30 million.

The committee that considered the proposals consisted of Hartman, McMichael, city engineer Glen Morrow and city planning director Jenna Wertman. Hartman told the city council later in the evening of March 25 that the decision to not have any elected officials on that committee was intentional.

“(The idea of) pockets being lined or favors being given, that is one reason that no one on the council nor the Board of Works was asked to be on the selection committee. And if you talk to the four companies, every one of them knew who was on the selection committee, and every one of them was appreciative that there was not an elected official on that,” he said.

Mayor Guy Titus noted that Hartman and the police administration put significant effort into planning a vision for a new police department.

“We’re looking at square footage prices and things like that, so there’s been a lot of effort put into this,” he said.

Hartman hopes a new police station will be designed and built to serve Greenfield over the next phase of growth in the future.

“The building that we’re going to build is going to lead Greenfield into the next 40 years, and we don’t have to worry about another police department building,” he said. “… Core Construction is the No. 1 public safety builder in the country, and GM Development does 90% of all BOT projects in the state of Indiana.

“If you’re going to build a building that’s going to last the city of Greenfield, you might as well pick the best in business. You might as well pick the company who does 90% of all BOTs.”

According to the rubric, Core and GM expect the schedule of the overall project to take around 2.25 years, with a construction period of 18 months — however, this is only conceptual, and a more concrete schedule will be formed during the scoping period.

Also at the March 25 city council meeting, the council unanimously approved appropriating $2.12 million of local income tax money for the architectural and engineering design services for the proposed new headquarters, which is to be done by American Structurepoint.
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