As the populations of Leander and Cedar Park continue to increase, city leaders are investing in police and fire positions, equipment and facilities to serve the growing communities.
According to 2015 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Cedar Park has grown by 27.4 percent and Leander has grown by 44.3 percent since 2010. Both cities dedicated funding to public safety improvements in 2016-17 fiscal year budgets.
“Public safety is important—from a budget standpoint you can see that, and from a community standpoint it’s about the safety and security of what kind of community we want to be,” Cedar Park City Manager Brenda Eivens said. “We make those investments based on community feedback and [City] Council priorities.”
Police department needs In September, the city of Cedar Park approved funds for two police officer positions and one evidence technician position in the 2016-17 budget. Leander approved four patrol officers, one professional standard sergeant and one animal service officer in its budget.
Representatives from both cities said workload analyses and calls for service determine how many positions to add. Leander Police Chief Greg Minton said an outside consultant conducted the analysis, which provides the city with an objective report.
He said as the community grows, the department’s biggest need will continue to be more positions.
“The biggest expense for us over the next five to 10 years will be personnel to try to keep up with the growth and the quality of life that people have come to expect in Leander,” he said. “We’re blessed here because it’s a great area, a great community, we have a very low crime rate, and we want to keep that as it is as much as we can.”
In the past few years both cities also began funding new buildings. Cedar Park Police Chief Sean Mannix said he anticipates breaking ground on a $5.86 million police station expansion in mid-2017.
The station opened at its current location at 911 Quest Parkway in 2003, and Eivens said the city planned to use funds from a 2007 bond to expand. Economic conditions delayed the expansion, she said, so the need for extra space has increased.
Mannix said many rooms at the station serve dual purposes, and two officers are often housed in offices designed for one person.
“We make due with what we have,” he said. “We’ve kind of been putting people where we can fit them.”
Leander spent $69,000 to add more offices in its police station last year and to finish a second expansion in mid-September, Minton said.
The city dedicated $520,000 in the FY 2016-17 budget to add a Sally Port onto the police station, which is a secure garage area for an arrestee and officer. Once construction begins, Minton said it could be completed in six to eight months.
If the city has extra funds in the budget, Minton said he will request a larger training room. He also said the police station will either need another expansion, or the department or will need to begin planning for a new building around 2020.
Cedar Park is installing a training facility in the police station in about three months. The project was funded in a previous budget, and Mannix said it will use scenario-based training to accommodate live gunfire and laser simulation.
Fire department needs Cedar Park also dedicated funding for five positions for the city’s fifth fire station. Eivens said this is the second year the city has set aside funds to hire the staff for the new fire station, and the rest of the positions should be funded in the next budget.
“That’s in order to make sure we have trained officers ready to manage those stations and in order to help from a budgetary standpoint,” she said.
Leander budgeted for six positions in its emergency operations division and one support administration position, which will help provide administrative relief for the growing commercial sector, Fire Chief Bill Gardner said.
Cedar Park’s fifth fire station, a $4.76 million building funded by 2007 and 2015 bond funds, is planned to open by 2018 on Cottonwood Creek Trail. Eivens said the new station will increase response times in an area of town with a growing number of commercial businesses.
In the spring Cedar Park will receive an upgraded mobile command post that can serve any city department, Fire Chief James Mallinger said. The 30-to-32-foot mobile office will have communication capabilities and two conference areas to allow city workers to set up off-site operations.
In the 2016-17 budget, Leander dedicated $2.9 million to relocate its first fire station. The city is also planning to construct its fourth fire station at Ronald Reagan Boulevard and Crystal Falls Parkway.
Fire Station No. 1 will move next to Tom Glenn High School. Gardner said Station No. 1 would serve the area near the upcoming Austin Community College campus and St. David’s Hospital. He said both fire stations will need to be completed in 2017.
“We have some service areas that are dependent on us getting those facilities built and getting those staffed so that we can meet the needs [of that area],” he said.
Gardner said the city will need two more fire stations in five-to-seven years near the Travisso subdivision and near Ronald Reagan and Kauffman Loop. He said he plans to have two police substations at these locations.
The public safety chiefs said city leaders have been supportive of growing their departments to meet the demands of both the growing cities.
“As we change the complexity of our city, our response needs to change and match that complexity where people receive the same level of service, no matter the [city] size,” Gardner said.
