COLLINSVILLE, Okla. — Collinsville city leaders broke ground on an expanded police department.
Voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase, allowing crews to start construction on the expansion next month.
Leaders hope some golden shovels will usher in a golden era for the city. They’ve been waiting on this for years.
"It is an unreal moment. For us to actually be breaking around today and for this project to be coming to fruition," police chief Matthew Burke said. "It’s something we’ve been dreaming about since I’ve been here, so for the last 15 years."
The current facility is a renovated post office. They moved into the six-thousand-square-foot building in the early 2000s. The new construction will give them 4,000 more square feet.
"Our officers in there... they’re pretty cramped. They’re stacked on top of each other and everything, so this is a really big step," neighbor Ed Phillips said.
Over the last ten years, the town’s population has grown from about 6,000 people to more than 8,300. There are good things that come with that, but also some bad. A new space in the expanded building will be safer for officers.
"Having a place away from our workstations where we can process things like that is very important to us," Burke said.
Similar public safety bonds in other cities have failed, but Phillips said he’s not surprised it worked in his hometown.
"I think they really saw the need, and we know that we’re growing. We are a growing community. We’ve got people coming in," Phillips said.
Mayor Larry Shafer agrees.
"Thankful again that [citizens] saw the need and willing to come to bat for our public safety officers," Shafer said.
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