photo by: Contributed

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

Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday approved the $6.6 million cost for the second phase of the Public Safety Building project, which will add just two months to the building’s original construction timeline.

At their weekly meeting, the commissioners voted unanimously to approve the cost for the second phase of the Public Safety Building — which will be on land adjacent to the Douglas County Correctional Facility, 3601 E. 25th St. — in the amount of $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.

Michael Comer, a vice president at JE Dunn Construction, told commissioners that tariffs have been significantly increasing construction costs nationwide, and he doesn’t expect prices to drop anytime soon. He noted that following the most recent round of tariffs implemented on Aug. 7, the U.S. average effective tariff rate has climbed to 18.6%, the highest level since 1933. In contrast, the rate was just 2.4% in January.

“The tariffs are raising construction material costs, like steel, aluminum, copper, but obviously that’s big components of building,” Comer said.

On top of the tariffs, Comer said his team is projecting that by the end of the year, escalation due to the market conditions will increase construction costs by 5% along with another 5% increase due to the tariffs alone.

“We’re projecting that there could be a 10% escalation or inflation on construction costs by the end of the year,” Comer said. “So I just had to bring that up because it’s really no better time than today to do construction. It usually never gets cheaper.”

Commissioner Shannon Reid said this is an example of how decisions made at the federal level “drill down in a variety of ways.”

“While none of us can predict the future, I do tend to agree that I don’t expect it to get any cheaper from here, at least not anytime in the relative future,” Reid said. “… But I’m glad we’ve saved efficiently and made wise decisions that precede this one.”

As the Journal-World reported, commissioners were asked to begin the next phase of the Public Safety Building early to allow the Sheriff’s Office to move in sooner. Comer said that phase two will proceed concurrently with the ongoing construction. The Public Safety Building’s first phase was initially set for completion in spring 2026, and the addition of phase two will push the projected completion date for both phases to June 2026.

“It also helps the JLEC project,” Comer said, because the completion date would be around the time the renovations to the existing JLEC building are scheduled to begin. The Sheriff’s Office could then move its staff from the JLEC to the Public Safety Building and avoid “some of the pain” from the renovations.

The County Commission also had to make an amendment to the original project agreement with JE Dunn Construction to add the next phase. In December, commissioners approved a total project cost of nearly $82 million for the renovation and addition to the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center along with the first phase of the Public Safety Building.

Including the second phase of the Public Safety Building, this brings the total project cost for both buildings to $88,625,455. County staff said 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 Public Safety Building costs $22,391,444.

In other business, county commissioners:

• Approved 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. These changes include a new section on workplace relationships, a clarification on the grievance process, mandatory continuous Family Medical Leave Act leave for bonding, and compliance-related additions for voting leave and cyber incident response.

• Approved the membership of the Douglas County Emergency Management Board, which works closely with Emergency Management staff on all aspects of department functions and acts as the Local Emergency Planning Committee. The commissioners also nominated the members to the State Commission on Emergency Planning and Response.