OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — On Tuesday the Omaha City Council voted to approve a nearly $3 million agreement with local architectural firm Leo A Daly to start the process of creating options for a proposed combined police and fire headquarters.
3 News Now Reporter Molly Hudson took a deeper look at what Mayor Jean Stothert and Omaha Fire Chief Kathy Bossman would like to see out of the project.
It's a project Stothert says has been a goal for quite some time.
"Rather than look at them as a police headquarters and the fire separately, we would look at combining them. Which a lot of cities do," Stothert said.
Now that funding has been approved, the project can take another step.
"Now we can continue on with that process to design it and talk to all the experts, understand what we need in it to make most efficient, where it is going to be, and move on with the project," said Stothert.
Stothert plans to keep the headquarters downtown, with efficiency top of mind.
"We want all of the equipment, the facilities, the apparatus they use, all to be state of the art. For their safety, for the police and fire safety and the for the safety of our citizens," she said.
But what would happen to the current buildings?
"It will just be another area where we already own the area that we could use for future development," said Stothert.
But, Bossman says there is a chance they would have to keep their current building.
"Whether or not our emergency apparatus will be responding out of the headquarters or will they stay at this older building and respond out of there, those are questions that will have to be answered," said Bossman.
She also says that will depend on the site that is chosen.
"If the site is too far off of our ideal response are we will probably have to keep these crews responding out of this building," said Bossman.
Bossman does say the new building would help with space.
"We are really looking forward to a new headquarters where we can have a little bit more space to accommodate, larger meetings, larger groups," she said.
And it would allow the two departments to work more closely.
"We are both responding to a lot of the same emergency scenes, and we interact frequently, as we do you know today. I think a combined headquarters will be more efficient for both police and fire," said Bossman.
Stothert says this could require a bond issue, but doesn't anticipate a tax increase.
The Public Works Department told the city council that construction could wrap up in the summer of 2027.
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