photo by: Contributed

An architectural rendering of the staff entrance to the Public Safety Building.

Douglas County commissioners will consider approving a $6.6 million budget for the second phase of the Public Safety Building project that would finish out space inside the building for the Sheriff’s Office.

The budget for the second phase, if approved, would bring the total costs of Douglas County’s two big public safety building projects — the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center renovation and the new Public Safety Building — to about $89 million. In December, commissioners approved a nearly $82 million budget for these two projects, but only parts of the Public Safety Building were initially funded — specifically, the building shell and the lower floor interior for Douglas County Emergency Communications and Emergency Management.

In April, county staff asked commissioners to begin the next phase early, which would allow the Sheriff’s Office to move in sooner. County staff said that if the second phase of the project were completed earlier, the county would see “cost savings of between five and ten percent” by doing so.

According to a staff memo to county commissioners, the cost for the second phase of the project would be $6,643,382. It would include the interior finishings of the 25,565-square-foot main level of the building, such as office spaces, locker rooms and lobby areas, along with parking lots and a generator that can power the building in case of an outage.

Treanor Architects staff met with commissioners at the end of July to give them a better idea of what the inside of the building would look like once the second phase is complete. One big piece of the conversation was the need for a large vehicle storage area.

The County Commission will also have to make an amendment to the original project agreement with JE Dunn Construction for the next phase, and that will also be considered on Wednesday.

Including the new phase of work brings the total project cost for the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center and Public Safety Building to $88,625,455. County staff told the Journal-World that cash has been allocated in the Capital Improvement Plan for the project. The JLEC portion of the project costs $59,590,629, and the first phase of the PSB costs $22,391,444.

In other business, county commissioners will:

• Consider approving the updated Douglas County Personnel Policy. The policy’s length was reduced from 110 to 65 pages, along with several content updates based on attorney recommendations — such as a new section on workplace relationships, a clarified grievance process, mandatory continuous Family Medical Leave Act leave for bonding, and compliance-related additions for voting leave and cyber incident response.

• Consider approving the membership of the Douglas County Emergency Management Board, which works closely with Emergency Management staff on all aspects of the department functions and serves as the Local Emergency Planning Committee. In addition, commissioners will consider nominating the members to the State Commission on Emergency Planning and Response.

The County Commission’s business meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.