Edna PD plans for move

By John Meng, General Manager/Editor     Built in 1948, the Edna police station’s days are numbered. While the 73-year-old building has served the city well for many decades, city officials will be moving police operations to the current Chamber of Commerce building on Main Street.     

According to Edna City Manager Gary Broz, the police building has such significant problems that it would be cost prohibitive to repair.     

“There was so much termite damage and so much mold,” said Broz, “that to put the repairs into it is just not feasible. It has old concrete walls. There is no drop ceiling so wires are all run on the outside of all the walls. It’s not technology friendly. It’s just used up.     

“So, we went looking for a new building, and there simply is not an existing building suitable for a police station,” said Broz.     

“Then it dawned on me,” he added. “The city already owns a building. The city owns the building where the Chamber of Commerce is currently located. They rent the building from us.”     

But the Chamber won’t be left out in the cold.     “

We are going to work with Chamber and help them. Our current plan is to renovate the old Roy’s Seafood space next to the Edna Theater and the city, along with a few community partners, will pay for the renovations for the Chamber. Once, we help the Chamber relocate, then we’ll focus on renovating the Chamber building so it better serves the police department,” explained Broz.     

“It’s the most feasible thing for us to do,” he said. “We’ll be losing a little bit of square footage, but it’ll be enough.”     

Broz said he would like for everything to completed by mid-July, but they will be using as much in-house labor as possible but there are always other city projects that could potentially interrupt their schedule.     

“This was simply a business decision. Instead of renting and not have anything, it’s better to use our building for the police department and also help the chamber get relocated and situated downtown,” said Broz.  “I feel positive about it. I think it’s going to be a good move for the city and a good move for the Chamber.”     

As to the future of the current police building, it will eventually be demolished.     “

We plan on knocking down the old police building and growing grass there until we can come up with $300,000 to build a new police station at some point. We’re in no rush,” said Broz. “The building has served us well, but it’s just not feasible to fix it.”