The Arkansas State Police is seeking about $27 million in bonds to finance construction of five new troop headquarters.
Agency Director Col. Bill Bryant discussed the project Tuesday in a meeting with the state police commission, which must approve final plans for the project.
"Right now, it's just still kind of exploratory as far as seeking the financial part or aspect of building these facilities," Bryant told the commission.
The agency's priority is a new headquarters for Troop L in Springdale, where about 50 personnel report to a 31-year-old building at 900 S. 48th St. State police spokesman Bill Sadler said the 1.6-acre property near U.S. 412 and Interstate 49 simply isn't big enough to accommodate agency operations.
"One of the biggest bottlenecks that we have right now in Troop L is that we do not have a single facility where we can offer the driver's license testing. That's located at another piece of property in Springdale. This needs to be a centralized facility. It would be easy access. Right now, it is not," he said.
State police purchased a larger site for $1.575 million in 2012. The 26-acre property is off Arkansas 264 west of Interstate 49 in Lowell.
The land was bought through asset forfeiture funds, and state police were hoping to build on it using money collected through driver's license fees. The agency receives $24 a pop for eight-year driver's licenses.
"Some of that money is being used to pay off indebtedness on other state police facilities, so it has not been calculated yet how much of that will have to be set aside for any new indebtedness," Sadler said.
State police were also hoping to build new headquarters for Troop B in Newport, Troop D in Forrest City, Troop F in Warren, and Troop I in Harrison.
Bryant testified before the Arkansas Legislative Committee last week that the buildings are outdated.
"I think we need to note that I did advise them state police was celebrating its 80th anniversary of being in existence, and that almost every one of these headquarters are half the age of state police, and one of them," he said, referring to Troop B in Newport, "is 59 years old."
Depending on the cost of Troop L's new facilities, state police may instead choose to renovate the other four headquarters, according to Sadler. He said the cost of relocating each building's radio communication system could run in the millions.
The Arkansas Development Finance Authority issues bonds on behalf of state agencies. Ro Arrington, a department finance officer, said it would take about six weeks for state police to shop bonds for the project.
"What we would do is to go out and engage professionals to issue the bonds on our behalf, professionals such as investment bankers, lawyers and trustees to administer the bond issue," he said.
The state police commission, a seven-person oversight body, has final say in the process. Arrington said he didn't expect terms of the project to be finalized until sometime in the first quarter of 2016.
State police Commissioner Jane Christenson of Harrison said Tuesday the project is overdue. The agency began looking to buy property for a new Troop L headquarters in 2005.
"I just want to applaud the colonel and his staff for getting started on all this, because this has been needed for a long time and I'm just looking forward to seeing the fruition of it," Christenson said.
Metro on 08/26/2015