A city-owned building on Jackson Street on Wildwood’s west side is undergoing renovation to provide a temporary new home for the Wildwood Police Department.
Public Works Director Jerome Hockenbury told city commissioners Monday night that public works employees are completing much of the renovation.
The department has been operating out of a rental trailer after the Huey Street station was severely damaged in an electrical fire last October that sent dispatchers fleeing for their lives.
Cost of the renovation project is estimated at about $54,000, not including furniture.
Hockenbury reported that site work is nearly complete and interior work is about 75 percent finished. Exterior upgrades are about half done.
Besides painting, interior upgrades include new lighting, electrical circuits, kitchen cabinets and a communications system.
Wildwood is building a $7 million police station on the southwest corner of U.S. 301 and County Road 462 West. A construction manager was hired recently but construction has not begun.
When the new station is finished, the Jackson Street building may serve as a substation similar to the department’s Brownwood substation.
The city also is in the process of hiring a new police chief and City Manager Jason McHugh is reviewing 51 applications for the post. An interim chief was hired last month.
Former Police Chief Paul Valentino resigned in December, along with two members of his command staff, after clashes with McHugh over mold discovered in the 52-year-old station after the fire.
