Quincy City Council members received a detailed construction and budget update Monday on the new Public Safety Headquarters — a multi-part project that includes a five‑story headquarters, secure parking structure, site hardening and off‑site infrastructure improvements — and pressed the mayor’s office over a recently announced public‑art installation on the building’s facade.

The update, led by the mayor’s chief of staff, Public Buildings Commissioner Paul Hines, and owner’s project manager Joseph (Joe) Shea of Granite City Partners, described the work completed so far and the plan to begin occupying the new facility in October 2025. “We are driving for October 2025 to start to occupy the building,” Shea told the council. Chief Mark Kennedy said the new building will centralize police, fire and emergency management functions and provide spaces now lacking in the existing facility, including private interview rooms, a fitness center and an indoor firing range.

Why it matters: the project ties together a long list of improvements that the administration says will harden the site against storm surge and improve emergency response while also creating operating savings and future electric‑vehicle infrastructure. At the same time, the mayor’s office drew criticism from several councilors and members of the public after the administration announced two large figurative sculptures for the facade; councilors said they were unaware of the artwork until it was publicly reported and asked for a clearer process for public art on major city projects.

Project scope and schedule
City officials described the overall program as an aggregate $175,000,000 effort that bundles the headquarters building, a parking structure, off‑site improvements and related acquisitions. The project team said the building portion is a major share of that aggregate: “The building … is $143,000,000 of that aggregate,” Shea said. He also detailed other line items he said had been scoped during construction: “A hundred and 18 [million] for the building and parking, $11,000,000 for the furnishing, fixtures, and equipment, $9,000,000 for the off‑site improvements and $5,000,000 budgeted for contingency allowance.” The project team reported the overall program is roughly 98% encumbered and that about 65% of the building budget has been spent; Shea said the remaining project contingency is about $2,200,000.

Officials described the building as five stories and roughly 20,000 square feet per Shea’s remarks, with more than 50 dedicated rooms for police, fire and emergency management functions, and a secure parking deck with about 330 spaces. The project includes a stormwater pump station, raised street elevations on Broad Street to reduce flood risk, buried utilities along the corridor, an activated Field Street connection to improve response access and a solar PV canopy over the parking structure with space for more than 30 EV chargers and infrastructure for future expansion. Chief Kennedy described operational benefits he expects: private interview rooms, training and conference space, a new indoor shooting range, a virtual reality training room and a consolidated emergency communications center intended to dispatch police, fire and EMS from a single facility.

Public art and council concerns
The mayor’s chief of staff told the council the sculptures were procured under the construction manager‑at‑risk procurement and that the decision on the artwork was made by the mayor’s office, not the council. “You go straight to the Mayor. This is one of those occasions where it’s certainly okay for this body … that the decision on this has been made,” Mr. Walker said. He also said the art budget amounts to roughly half of 1% of the overall project cost.

Several councilors said they first learned of the proposed artwork through media reports and public reaction rather than through council briefings. “It’s the fact that the city council was unaware that this was happening,” Council President Kane said, and other councilors urged the administration to create a repeatable public‑art process for large city projects so future choices include more public input. Councilor Liang and Councilor McCarthy pressed the mayor’s office on where residents should direct complaints or requests for changes; Walker repeated that procurement and final decisions on that art element were made in the mayor’s office and urged residents to take concerns there.

Quotes from officials
"The community access to police and fire service is gonna be like nothing we've ever had in the city before," Police Chief Mark Kennedy said, describing consolidated public and administrative access and new private interview rooms.
"We are driving for October 2025 to start to occupy the building," Joe Shea said, giving the council a target for initial occupancy and noting a phased move‑in.
"You go straight to the Mayor," the mayor’s chief of staff said when asked where the public should take concerns about the chosen art.

What the council directed and next steps
Councilors asked the administration for more regular briefings and said they plan to pursue a clearer public‑art approval path on future projects; several said they will seek options for additional public engagement even though the administration described the art decision as made. Officials said the construction schedule remains targeted to open the building in October 2025, with an anticipated phased migration of departments into the new facility and demolition of the old police station later in the 2025‑26 winter. The project team said ribbon cuttings and public tours of non‑secure areas will be planned once occupancy is imminent.

Clarifying details in the transcript
- Total program (aggregate): $175,000,000 (Joseph Shea)
- Building portion: described as $143,000,000 of the aggregate (Joseph Shea)
- Alternate line noted by Shea: “A hundred and 18 [million] for the building and parking” (Joseph Shea)
- Furnishings, fixtures & equipment: $11,000,000 (Shea)
- Off‑site improvements: $9,000,000 (Shea)
- Budgeted contingency: $5,000,000 originally; remaining contingency reported as $2,200,000 (Shea)
- Building size: described in remarks as 20,000 square feet and five stories (Shea)
- Parking: approximately 330 secure spaces (Shea)
- EV charging: “over 30” charge stations planned initially; conduits and transformer pads installed for future expansion (Hines/Shea)

Ending
Councilors did not take a formal vote on the art at Monday’s meeting; they approved routine agenda items later in the session. The council asked the administration to continue updates on schedule and budget and to provide information about future public‑art procedures so residents can have a clearer route to provide input before construction is complete.