Southgate City Council members addressed a new evidence room at their Wednesday meeting, an issue that has been under discussion for several months.
After Police Chief John Christmann shared his concerns about the need for a larger police evidence room last year, city officials put aside $150,000 for the room in this year’s budget.
The first hurdle was to decide on a suitable location for the room within the city’s properties. Officials decided to put the new evidence facility at the building on Electric Avenue.
Council member Joe Anderson reported on the project’s progress Wednesday evening. Some storage cabinets and equipment are on order. Although there had been some concern about structural weight limits in the building, he said, the furnishings and all the evidence would not exceed those limits.
Newport-based Emboss Design has been selected to prepare the design-build concept for the evidence room. The company would provide field measuring, preliminary design, building code review and analysis, specifications, structural engineering review, construction management and other services. Emboss would also help the city prepare the construction bids.
For these services, the cost would be $28,100, which would come out of the $150,000 budget. Council approved Mayor Jim Hamberg’s request for authorization to contract with Emboss.