The McCordsville Municipal Building Corporation approved an amendment to the Build-Operate-Transfer agreement for the construction of the town’s new police station to outfit the station’s shooting range for just under half a million dollars.
John Bryant, an owners representative from Veridus Group, presented on the proposal from Action Target to the board, noting that this cost was a significant drop from earlier proposals. The range outfitting was originally planned to be part of the police station project, but when bids came in as high as $725,000, the town council decided to delay it. The council approved an amendment to send the range to the Municipal Building Corporation during its August meeting after seeing the decreased cost.
The cost includes three years of maintenance by Action Target, which Bryant referred to as the “Cadillac” of the industry. According to McCordsville Town Manager Tim Gropp, passing it through an amendment for the BOT rather than as a separate project was an easier and faster process for the town. He also notes that the project will be paid for entirely with cash on hand following a high return on investment from a town bond.
The shooting range will help the town’s police force train new members more quickly and without jumping through as many hurdles, as they currently use the Hancock County range, which is used not only by all the other law enforcement agencies within the county, but also federal and state police forces. The high demand for the space leads to limited availability, but now with their own range, the McCordsville police department will be able to get basic training done much more efficiently. The town also expects other nearby law enforcement groups to use the McCordsville facility.
In addition to being used as a shooting range, the police force plans to use the space for hand-to-hand combat and VR (virtual reality) training.
An open house for the new police station will be held on Oct. 21 with a ribbon cutting on Oct. 24. The open house will be the public’s only chance to see the station before the police department takes over full time.
