City Of Tahlequah To Spend Extra $60K Updating New Police Headquarters

Despite spending big bucks, a Green Country police department cannot move into its new headquarters.

Tahlequah's mayor, Jason Nichols, said the state fire marshal's office is requiring the city to install more emergency exit lighting and new fire rated doors. That means finding $61,000 to get the building up to code.

"Thankfully the money was essentially there, but you still don't like being told near the very end of the project that you're going to have to redo some things," he said.

Nichols said the city learned it will have to spend more money on renovations to the new police department.

He said the fire marshal inspected the building and reviewed the plans before, but made changes as construction started to wrap up.

"I think people do need to remember that renovations can sometimes have unexpected problems. Now this one might have been avoidable, again it was the fire marshal rather than, maybe, an unforeseen issue of the structure, but nonetheless, it's not uncommon for renovations to run into these kinds of issues," Nichols said.

The police department is moving into an old National Guard armory on the city's west side.

The department is currently operating in the basement of the Cherokee County courthouse.

Nichols said, "They've been operating in that small area for a very long time. The town has grown around them, they need the floor space."

The new police department will have a new jail, larger squad rooms and house a half million dollars in new technology.

The money to bring the building up to code came from a $22 million bond. The city council approved the extra money last week.

The police department hopes to move in by the end of the year.