Columbia Capital Investment Sales Tax interview: Jill Schlude, Columbia Police Chief

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The following is the full transcript of an interview ABC 17 News reporter Gabrielle Teiner conducted with Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude.

Gabrielle Teiner: All right. Can I have you state your name? Spell it. And your title?

Jill Schlude: Sure Jill Schlude j i l l s c h l u d e and I am the chief of police

Teiner: Great, so, here we are here today to talk about the capital improvement. Sales tax. So if the capital improvement sales tax goes does go through, what will it go towards for the department. 

Schlude: So for the police department this year we basically have two big projects uh one of them is a pretty pressing issue that's been going on for several years. And that is um an... basically an expansion of our evidence unit will actually be located in a different facility. So we would like to build some space on to our training center that's down south and set that up so that we can actually move evidence storage to that facility. Uh it's been housed within this building for many, many, many years. And over that time, many renovations have been done but we're just we've outgrown the space. And it's to the point that we've actually had some employees get injured because items fall off of shelves because they're so over overcrowded. So um we're really at max capacity when we say that it's it's a very true statement. So moving it offsite, getting it into a A unit that's actually probably built specifically for that purpose. So more of warehousing space, things like that is really our overall goal. 

Teiner: Great. And what was that second project you mentioned?

Schlude: So the second project is uh the basically rebuilding the building that we're in right now, the downtown station. So this building is very, very old.. um... over 100 years old. Easily, um, many renovations have been done of this building. In fact, the floor that we're sitting on when I came to work for the city was the water and light department. It wasn't even housed by the police department. So over the years, we've expanded up, taken all the space um I can't tell you how many construction projects have been done in this building to try to just get more people into the same amount of space uh and so obviously, there's some downsides to that um we had a needs assessment performed in 2011. one of the outcomes of that was the building of the North Station. But the bigger scope of that plan was to eventually build a South Station, as well as re remodel, redo, rebuild the station down here. And the plan that was chosen at the time was to build the North Station, basically blow up this building and start from scratch. And so there were several recommendations as to why that was a lot of it, because the infrastructure in the building is just so old, including electrical, plumbing. The HVAC is barely limping along on some days. So what we're going to have to do in the meantime is because that needs assessment was done in 2011. We'd like to take some money that we have left over from another project, get a second needs assessment done because it has been, you know, we're getting close to 15 years since that was done. So we do need to go back, have somebody come back in, relook at it, tell us what we think we need. Part of that process is you really when we did the last one we looked at 20 years out. So what would this building look like? Who does it need to house 20 years from now? Do you don't want to build a building that just meets what's going on today? You need to think, in 20 years, how many people are going to be working out of this building? so that will be part of the process. And then based on the outcome of that, we'll have a really strong idea, I think, about cost, but based on escalation in in building costs, what the original one was, it it's obviously going to be more than it would have been in 2011. 

Teiner: Yeah, especially and uh with some of the other folks I've spoken with, they've talked about um the city's expansion, and just the growing population is really a driving force behind all of these work projects. And the need for the sales tax. 

Schlude: And this building is a great example, because the age of the building doesn't lend itself to a lot of the technology pieces that you get, like we have at the north station and newer building, whether that's, sustainability issues, like if you go up to the north station, all the lights are automated. So you have automated lights you have uh you know, the toilets that are more efficient, the the self flushing toilets. Same with the sinks. They're all motion activated, um, the HVAC, obviously, is far more up to date and and made for that facility. So you also get a lot of improvements with sustainability. And just honestly, the working conditions for the people in the building. there's a lot of workspaces in this building where there's a little or no natural light. long term, that's not really good for people. Obviously, when you see facilities being built nowadays, even in secure facilities like a police department, the design will work very hard to incorporate things like natural light um you know, ergonomic workspaces, spaces. That makes sense for the work that's going on in there. And when you remodel the building 20 times or better over, you know, 100 years, you're just not going to get that

Teiner: Great,So you kind of already touched on this, in your previous answer. But how would this benefit the department? 

Schlude: Wow, so I really think facilities are also a recruiting tool. So when you see a new facility and and you know, you think of this way, like if you or I go to book a hotel tonight someplace, if a hotel is not supposed to be historic and it's 30 years old, it's going to show its age if it's never been remodeled right? Right Much better chance we're going to say, you know, I think I'll stay in that hotel that opened six months ago. So when we have recruits come and look at facilities, obviously they want to work in a modern facility, especially folks that are far more um used to technology than than people like me who have been here for almost 20 years. So when you have people come in and they go, wow, you know, I- I looked at this department and they have this integrated in or they have this technology piece that's already there. It it makes us seem like we're a little bit behind. So I do think new facilities, especially facilities that are geared towards the work that the officers do, makes a big difference in recruiting. I also think that having a modern police facility is good for the community, because there are spaces at the North Station, we incorporated in a community room that folks can come in and use and have meetings. We can have training sessions there at the public designing spaces like that that are multi-purpose. there's always the potential. I've looked at building models where uh you incorporate things like code enforcement, possibly animal control into the building, whatever makes sense for that workspace. So I think that could be a great outcome of this new needs assessment is really figure out what we as a city want to have in the downtown police facility. Right now, we're just so constricted to what this building is. And, you know, it's got a parking deck that is constantly they were repairing yesterday, actually,  uh in need of repair.  And it really limits us from being able to build up, which I think is with limited space downtown. That's really what you're going to have to do is build up. 

Teiner: Gotcha so, And I it also on the, on the website for the C-i-s-t, it's that there are new laws for evidence storage that requires CPD to me need more lockers. Could you maybe go into some of those laws?

Schlude: Sure. So there's certain um crimes that can be committed, like homicide and and rape, that we are now required to keep all that evidence indefinitely. So with a lot of homicide evidence, that's things like those are things that can be in temperature controlled storage but doesn't need to be refrigerated generally um but a lot of those things can be larger pieces. And there's usually lots of evidence in a homicide. So that just means more space. with things like sexual assault kits, those have to be refrigerated. So right now, if you went in our evidence unit every time we need to add more refrigeration space, we literally are going to a big box store and getting a refrigerator like you might have in your house, and we're plugging it in to another already over Capacitated  outlet um so that we can have more space. So we really are looking at modernizing that space as well, having something like a walk in cooler for those that's made for that type of storage, because obviously we have to have backup generators so that if something there's a power failure, it is Mid-Missouri. We have storms um that that evidence is safe and secure. 

Teiner: So, so, are you using any are any projects from the last sales tax still being finished? And will this year's funding be used to finish them? 

Schlude: So the second floor of the North Station, was built out. It's a shell. It's not finished yet. So that is a potential possibility um at the time, there was also a plan to put, what I'm going to call a butler building a metal type equipment building on the back part of that property. And that would be used to house some of our bigger, um vehicles, for lack of a better term. So, like our Swat vehicles um we have a command post. We have several bigger trucks that right now we're parking in the basement here. This basement can house them, but negotiating that basement with large trucks is very difficult. So the original plan was to put a bigger equipment building out there. So I think that's something that we would be in discussions with too, as well as the original plan. If you go back and look at the original plan for that facility, you're supposed to have canine kennels uh and so that's another possibility. We be looking at. 

Teiner: Okay so Do you feel uh these funds will help make the department more efficient? 

Schlude: I think anytime we improve workspaces, it's always a huge opportunity to add efficiency. So I know from going through the the process with the North Station, that was something that we talked about. What are common areas that everybody can use? Um you know, lessening the amount of copiers you may have to have in a building or where a shared meeting rooms that different groups can use um shared office spaces um making more collaborative workspace for people. So I think one of the really positive outcomes, anytime we do these types of projects is looking for ways we can improve efficiency in technology, and I think those things ultimately play into morale overall. For everybody who works in the building. It's the same for our professional staff, right? So we have people working in evidence. We have people working in records. All their workspaces are outdated as well. And so this is just a huge opportunity, I think, to um bring the police department up to a more modern level and get people and workspaces that um you know, you want to come to work every day. Most people want to work in an office that um makes them feel like they want to be there, especially in police work where you can spend a lot of time sometimes uh you- you know, inside working on working on things. So um I think it's a great opportunity um I've been part of building projects before. They're not easy, but I think once we get them done, they're very worthwhile. And I think our uh community members very much appreciate it. 

Teiner: Yeah. And now that you mentioned community members, how will how will getting the c-i-s-t money uh help the community? 

Schlude: So I think going back to thinking about, you know, if you've ever been in our lobby in this building, it's very small. It's fairly dark um we'd like to have more opportunities for people to be able to get information themselves. So if you go in other facilities, you'll see kiosks where people can access their own information, maybe request a police report, maybe make a sunshine request, do all those kinds of things just on their own. And so I would like to look at ways we can in-incorporate that type of efficiency and public outreach into spaces that we would be constructing. I think that's in my experience, the last building process, that was a big part of it. I would highly anticipated it's going to continue to be a theme um much like if you've been in City Hall, they have someone down there at the desk who kind of can tell you everything you need to know. we just need to have a-a lot of people to come into a police facility. They're usually not there for a good reason. And so having someplace that's welcoming people can get information. It-It's someplace if you're a victim, you know, someplace where now we have, you know, specific interview rooms for different types of things so the victims can feel more comfortable reporting things. And so having softer spaces in in police facilities is also something that I've seen designers really incorporate into the builds uh and I think those things are really helpful. It's, you know, interviewing kids. There's a reason why if you go to a hospital, there's areas for kids that are supposed to help make them feel more comfortable because it is an overwhelming experience.

Teiner: For sure, And uh do you believe any of these uh improvements will help with police response time or maybe, um, you know, thorough investigating and stuff like that by adding, like you said, with the, second floor of the north station. 

Schlude: So I think as we, as we realize what the needs assessment is going to tell us, if it's something similar to the one we did in 2011, back then, the recommendation was that we would have a South facility somewhere in the southwest part of town. If you look at the growth of Columbia, it really pulls northeast and southwest. And so obviously we need somebody to come in and look and say, is that still the case? If it is, then we would definitely be looking at a building somewhere down in that area that would operate much like the North Station does so right now, everyone who works in the North District reports to that building for work. The long term plan was to have a south building that would operate the same way with the downtown headquarters essentially being administration investigators, you know, things of that nature. Your records department, um, evidence processing, things of that nature. So I'm really looking forward to having gone through one of those processes before. It's very intricate, but I think that level of detail provides people more of a big picture about what we're looking at doing, so that it it's more concrete and not so abstract because it's a lot of money. People want to know what the city is going to do with their tax money. And I think that's completely reasonable. And they'll be public, you know, public meetings that will take place where people get to ask questions and kind of see some of the ideas, just like we did with the North Station. So I think there's some great opportunities there. 

Teiner: And you already answered my question. I was going to ask if we were going to plan to get public input.

Schlude: oh, absolutely, sure, absolutely.

Teiner: Great and so And I just want to clarify with you, the Molly Thomas Bowden Neighboring Police Center, that's the... 

Schlude: Yup thats the north station, yes.

Teiner: Okay. I just wanted to clarify that with you real quick. But, uh so what would you say to someone who maybe is on the fence about when they see this kind of big picture, when they're looking at it and they're like, I don't know if I necessarily want to vote for this. Like, what would you tell someone that's kind of, erm on the fence?  

Schlude: I think it's always healthy to want to ask what is being done with tax money. I feel that way as a citizen. I expect other people to want to know that um the city is wisely spending tax money. Um if somebody is on the fence and they're really wondering what the facility looks like, if they want to get in touch with um a member of our public information staff or even me, I would be happy to give them a tour of the building. Most people, once they come in and actually see the current state of the building, they're very much understand why we're to the point that we need to go forward with projects like this. Um that's a that's an open invitation. I take them as many places as they can go in the building um I think seeing it makes a huge difference. um because you drive by the outside of the building, it's got a great historic brick exterior. You know, the windows are shiny, looks great. And then you come inside and it's not, you know, it's it's kind of. We've repainted the walls. I don't know how many times to try to make it a little bit more cheerful. um and, you know, it could always be worse. But at the same time, we're recognizing that there's ongoing, recurring maintenance issues that are coming up, like the Hvac, where every time the weather changes, I mean, just on this floor we're on right now, it's probably 10 or 15 degrees warmer in this office than it is on the other side of the hallway. And so that type of working environment is not um conducive to good morale a lot of times. So on the bottom floor, if you go to, where the officers are working, people in one part of the building, it's freezing. The other part of the building, they have huge industrial fans blowing on them just because they're sweating. So those are the kind of things we need to do for our staff.  

Teiner: Great. Do you have anything else that you'd like to say about the sales tax? 

Schlude: I don't think so. I just hope hopefully people take the time to educate themselves, make the decision that they think is right, and open invitation. If they want to come tour the facility, we can certainly set something up. I'm very open to that. It's people's police department. They need to see what it looks like.