At Thursday night's City Council meeting, Council again asked that Henderson County pay for SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS in the four county schools inside the city.
The Hendersonville City Council is once again asking county commissioners to pay for school resource officers at each public school in the city limits.
The council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday requesting an annual contribution of $201,445 from Henderson County to pay for four Hendersonville police officers at the schools in the city. This comes a year after county commissioners declined a similar request from the city for $480,000.
The resolution City Council signed Thursday points out that commissioners have committed to fund resource officers for all other schools in Henderson County.
Hendersonville city council was discussing...and moving forward with...a new facility fo the city police department Thursday night....a new police department in a strategically situated part of the city on Ashe Street in the Seventh Avenue East area.. At their February meeting Thursday night in Council Chambers in City Hall, Council was discussing $11.5 million they plan to spend in a new police department facility in the Ashe Street area, off Seventh Avenue East, near the railroad tracks.
City spokeswomaa Allision Nock says Council will also be discussing amenities in that new building, including a training room for about 80 people an “interview” rooms for conducting interviews, a polygraph room, storage space for evidence and for the department, and more.
There will be a “bullpen” area in the new building where sargeants and lieutenants can do administrative work, administrative offices, a garage, otgher needed area...and police department dispatch will be located in that new building as well.
Nock says construction on the new P.D. could start as early as November of this year and if things stay on schedule, she says the new facility could be completed by February of 2021.
The new facility is on the agenda for Council this Thursday night, so they can be updated on the costs and plans, so there can be some discussion, questions, and suggestions...and says Nock....”to let everyone know that we’re on the right page with the project.”
The Police Department has been in it’s current location in the ground floor of City Hall since moving out of the old Times-News building that’s since been torn down on Sixth Avenue East....and the H.P.D. originally shared that City Hall ground floor and King Street access with the Fire Department prior to the City Hall’s restoration and make-over about a decade ago.
It had been a goal of locating the new P.D. off Seventh Avenue East for the new facility to be a catalyst for new growth and development in the Seventh Avenue East area.
By Larry Freeman and Tippy Creswell
