Citing an immediate need to provide adequate security and functionality for the Lakeway Police Department, Lakeway City Council approved a resolution June 20 to support the creation of a new $16 million police station and seek funding for the project through a May 2017 bond referendum. The resolution included establishing a Police Facility Building Committee—composed of Mayor Joe Bain, Council Member Jim Powell, former Mayor Dave DeOme and City Manager Steve Jones—to coordinate efforts to advance the project.

“I would like to see a sense of urgency as to getting relief for the chief [of police] and his staff,” said Charlie McCullough, Justice Center Advisory Committee member.

The committee, which met every two weeks from Feb. 4-May 26, toured Lakeway’s Justice Center as well as other justice centers and police stations in neighboring cities to develop the recommendations presented by DeOme, the committee’s chairperson.

“When we came back from the tour of the [Lakeway] Justice Center, we were sitting in this [City] Hall,” DeOme said. “Charlie McCullough shook his head and said, ‘You know, as a citizen of Lakeway, I’m embarrassed.’ And, I think a lot of the other people on the committee felt that same way.”

Reasons for seeking new police station


DeOme cited the rationale for creating a new police station included the inadequacy of the current space and its negative impact on the morale of the force, lack of defined public and secure areas, substandard interview rooms for victims and suspects, limited and undersized locker space, limited areas to prepare and store evidence, inadequate records storage space, high costs to maintain an aging building, a small parking lot, a nonsecure parking area for official police vehicles and an inadequate processing area for juveniles.

“There’s clearly an issue of how do you take care of your police business when you can’t even store the records—the evidence and the private property—you are really required by law to store,” he said.

Additionally, DeOme said the lack of a holding cell within the facility has caused detainees to be handcuffed to a bench before being relocated for booking.

“When you see [the current justice center], you’ll see how inadequate these facilities are for what I think the community’s expectations are for what the police department needs to be,” DeOme said.

The committee proposed renovating the existing justice center—at an estimated cost of $200,000-$300,000—to serve as the city’s municipal court space and allow for more court dates.

In the future, plans for a new courthouse may be included as part of a City Hall expansion proposal, but a new courthouse is not warranted now, DeOme said.

The cost of building only a police station sized at 29,268 square feet, and not including court space, is estimated to be $16,626,723, or $350 per square foot, DeOme said.

“[Lakeway] was the 46th city to earn a Best Practices rating from the Police Chiefs Association of Texas,” he said. “... We are at risk at some time in the future of losing this Best Practices rating. It would be a shame, in my mind—[to have] a police department that has put in procedures, put in training programs, has got a staff that is up to snuff and able to meet this kind of condition—[to] find out we, as a citizenship in the city, don’t give them the facilities they need to continue on meeting this Best Practices rating.”

Cost to taxpayers

DeOme proposed a May bond referendum to fund the police station project and estimated the property tax increase for an average Lakeway homeowner would be about $89.80 on a $448,980 property valuation to fund the bond. He asked council to pass a reimbursement resolution to fund an architectural design and rendering of the proposed facility so residents will have an idea of what they are voting on. He also said the city could benefit from the formation of a political action committee to enlighten residents on the project and advocate for the bond’s passage.

“This [new police station] is definitely needed—there is no question about it,” said Bob Stubbs, vice president of the Lakeway Police Foundation.

The Justice Center Advisory Committee suggested two proposed locations for the new police station—the intersection of Lohman’s Crossing at Lohman’s Spur and a tract on North RR 620—out of six possible sites, DeOme said. The current location has limited space to expand that is not located within a flood plain, and the cost to relocate the departments to temporary spaces during construction is very expensive, he said.

If the referendum does not pass in May, the project cannot be put before the voters again until three years has passed, Bain said.