Campbell County took another step in centralizing its police, emergency management, dispatch and coroner operations in a new 58,000-square-foot facility on Racetrack Road.
The county brought the project before the Campbell County Planning and Zoning Commission on Feb. 10, according to the commission’s counsel Matt Smith, for an advisory recommendation (government entities are exempt from zoning). The item will ultimately go to the fiscal court for any final decisions.
“Basically, it’s an advisory opinion from the planning commission whether what the government entity is doing is or isn’t consistent with the comprehensive plan,” Smith said.
The Campbell County Police Department and the Campbell County Office of Emergency Management are both currently located in an out-of-date building, according to the county, on Constable Drive in Alexandria. The county currently rents space from a funeral home in Erlanger for body storage and for performing sampling for the Campbell County Coroner’s Office. The Campbell County Consolidated Dispatch Center is currently in the basement of the Newport City Building at 998 Monmouth St.
The building will bring those entities into a single facility located at 1114 Racetrack Road in unincorporated Campbell County.
The total site is over 17 acres and will include an office complex and a garage facility. Campbell County Administrator Matt Elberfeld said Tuesday that the building is expected to be 58,000 square feet.
“Our police have assigned patrol loops so there will not be vehicles coming and leaving this building at all hours of the night with lights and sirens,” Elberfeld said. “It’s essentially an office building.”
He said the facility will have an average of 30 employees on site.
The land is under contract with the Campbell County Fiscal Court. After meeting in a closed session on Sept. 3, the fiscal court voted in a regular session to purchase the property (three parcels of land) for the appraised value of $1,333,333.
The county awarded the construction manager-at-risk contract for the project to Conger Construction Group.
The construction manager will work in two phases. The first phase is the pre-construction phase, for which the county will pay a flat fee. Elberfeld said in December it should be about $76,000, but it is authorized for up to $80,000. The construction manager will review the building design, work with the project’s architect and provide material recommendations.
Elberfeld said Tuesday they are currently about 50% through the design phase.
Once the project is through the pre-construction phase, the construction manager will propose a guaranteed maximum price, and at that point will commit to building the facility for no more than that amount. Elberfeld said at the December fiscal court meeting that it would happen in June or July. Their compensation during the construction phase is a percentage fee based on the building’s value, which is 2.1%.
Elberfeld said construction is expected to start in September and would take 18-24 months.