At Tuesday’s Wichita City Council meeting, the council approved several agenda items dealing with public safety.
The first is construction of a new fire station, located in southwest Wichita at Pawnee and Maize. The current construction bid is $5.179 million, which is just under the city's $5.25 million budget.
The council also approved a new $600 thousand armored vehicle for Wichita Police. Captain Jason Cooley explained why that vehicle was necessary. “These buy us time when we're talking about these incidents,” he said. “So, when we're able to get up and put two-crisis negotiators in these vehicles, up close and personal with the individual, that buys us time to negotiate. These allow us to get close, to de-escalate these situations.”
Finally, the city will purchase property at 1890 West Harry Street for $1.5 million. They will use the facility to store specialized vehicles for the police department.
The council also approved over $20 million in water and sewer improvements. The work will include replacing some of the pumps at the Cheney Pump station, along with improvements at Wastewater treatment plant 3. In addition, the city will start the third phase of work at the city's aquifer storage and recovery recharge basins, which will protect the aquifer and the city's wellfield.