Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita are facing a May 18 deadline for finalizing an agreement for a new law enforcement training center.
The county commissioners are set to take up the issue at their Wednesday meeting.
The county’s bid board is recommending the commissioners accept a proposal to build a new law enforcement training center on Wichita State University’s Innovation Campus. The facility would replace the current center, a former elementary school on West 37th Street North that’s more than 30 years old and wasn’t meeting training needs.
The city and county would split the $9.5 million cost of the joint training center, the second-highest bid out of four proposals under consideration.
WSU’s Innovation Campus infrastructure funding would cover the costs of providing parking for the building, and the university would pay maintenance fees for the building for the first five years at a cost of approximately $200,000 per year.
Commission Chairman Jim Howell says a new facility could expand training opportunities overall.
"In fact, I would say this law enforcement training center ought to have opportunities for the other communities around Sedgwick County, not just Wichita and not just Sedgwick County," he says. "I would like to invite other communities around Sedgwick County to participate and be a part of our training resources there as well."
The proposal already has the backing of the City of Wichita, the police chief and sheriff.
The City of Wichita made an announcement in early March about the proposed partnership plan for a new training facility at WSU.
If approved, the three-story, 60,000-square-foot center would be located on the northeast corner of campus directly behind the Marcus Welcome Center and the Woodman Alumni Center. It would provide training for officers and deputies, classrooms for 500 criminal justice students and offices for 12 faculty and staff members.
The first floor will include rooms for tactical training and fitness, 911 backup and training, and quartermaster's rooms for the WPD and sheriff's department. The second floor will primarily house classrooms for the WPD and sheriff's department, and the third floor will include classrooms and offices for the WSU criminal justice program.
Howell says Sedgwick County’s request for proposals closed at the end of November, and if a final agreement is not reached by the May 18 deadline, the current bids will be cancelled and the process will have to start over.
The Kansas Board of Regents and other state entities would have to approve any facility built on the WSU campus. If constructed, the training facility would become the second partnership building on campus, joining the Airbus Americas building now under construction.
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