Salina commission authorizes phased police-station renovations, to be largely self-performed by city crews

The Salina City Commission on June 23 approved a phased plan to reorganize and renovate the existing Salina Police Department building, authorizing city facilities staff to self-perform much of the work and to solicit specialty contractors for trades such as HVAC or electrical.

Facilities superintendent Troy Reiner and Assistant City Manager Sean Hennessy presented a plan that focuses on interior reconfiguration rather than new construction. Key elements include relocating evidence storage from an overused former gel-cell area to a secured municipal-court basement; converting existing records and detective spaces into a larger briefing and training room; installing a new evidence-packaging area adjacent to briefing space; expanding men’s and women’s locker rooms and adding short-term quiet/holdover rooms for on-call or overnight officers; and creating new detectives’ offices. The plan calls for multiple curtain-wall openings to bring natural light into interior workspaces.

Hennessy told commissioners the full multi-year effort is expected to be substantially less costly than building a new facility and that city trades crews will perform the bulk of the work, using the city’s purchasing-policy provisions for in-house execution. The commission approved the authorization 4–0 and directed staff to manage phasing and bidding in accordance with the purchasing policy and future budget allocations. Staff estimated a project budget spread over 2025–2027 funding cycles, with $175,000 already in the current budget and additional amounts planned in future budgets.