By William Moore
Daily Journal
STARKVILLE – In less than four months, Starkville police will have a building of their own, for the first time in the department’s history.
Work began last August on the $4.48 million project to convert the former city hall at 101 East Lampkin St. into a stand-alone police department. The nine-month project is scheduled to be complete May 20.
The Art Moderne style exterior of the former National Guard Armory built around 1940 will not change. The interior was gutted, going all the way down to the 8-inch thick reinforced concrete walls.
“This is one of the sturdiest buildings in Starkville,” said Police Chief Frank Nichols. “We actually saved money by renovating this building, rather than trying to buy land and build a new one somewhere else.
“This gives us a central location for all of our divisions and should serve us well for at least the next 25 years.”
Crews with Columbus-based Weathers Construction are currently installing the metal stud walls for the first floor of what was originally a gymnasium. Work on the second floor could begin next week.
The work on the 76-year-old building has uncovered a number of things – some bad, some historic and some strange.
After removing the ceiling of the former city administration side of the building, officials noticed that several load-bearing walls had been removed sometime in the past. That problem had to be fixed before work could continue.
When stripping the walls of Nichols’ former office, workers found double exterior doors that had been sealed over, both on the inside and the outside.
“Nobody knew the doors were there,” said Nichols. “We’ve also found silver coins from the 1930s. And there is a concrete column where workers wrote their names in pencil.
“I had one of (the workers’) daughters come down here and look and she recognized her father’s handwriting.”
Public information officer Cpl. Brandon Lovelady is serving as the department’s liaison to the construction crew. He found a stash of school district receipts from the 1940s during the demolition, along with a bit of the macabre.
“I also found a couple of jugs of embalming fluid on the administrative side of the building,” said Lovelady. “Why they were here, I don’t have a clue.”
The police department started sharing space in city hall in 1968. When the city administration moved to the new city hall two blocks away in October 2015, it left the old building for the police to expand. The renovation will triple the department’s space, jumping to around 29,000-square-feet.
Nichols will be moving to an office on the second floor. His old office, along with other offices and a hallway, will be converted into a community room. That public space just off the lobby will be available for the use of citizens and civic groups.
To fund the project, the Starkville Board of Aldermen issued $5.4 million in bonds. The project was delayed seven weeks when the initial bids came in over budget. To reduce costs, a sally port, secure parking lot and rehabilitation of the drug court were removed.
When the Weathers bid came in about $1 million under the finding level, the excess was placed in a contingency fund. Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman has said the parking lot and drug court renovations would be first in line for any extra funds.
william.moore@journalinc.com