Welcomed news of new building for Sikeston DPS

If all goes according to plan, Sikeston may soon begin construction on a long-overdue new headquarters for our Public Safety Department.

The Sikeston City Council this week took the important step of seeking bids for construction on the new facility which would be located on South Kingshighway on the site of the former First Baptist Church. Once completed, the new headquarters would form an additional anchor to downtown along with the new Municipal Utilities building.

There has always been universal agreement that the aging Public Safety headquarters has long outlived its days. The sole question has been the cost of a new building and the appropriate way to pay for the facility.

The city has crafted an arrangement using low-interest Rural Development loans to pay for the bulk of the building. The Board of Municipal Utilities will assist the city through their continued funding of our city's economic development efforts.

In short, the plans involve a number of entities within Sikeston all working for a common goal. And it's a goal we can support without reservation.

Public Safety Director Drew Juden deserves much of the credit for this plan. He has tirelessly worked to hold costs of the new facility within a limited budget yet the final plan will be a source of substantial community pride.

A modern, well-designed and constructed new headquarters will be a substantial upgrade in our municipal vision. And there is no argument that our current facility has seen better days.

Often we look through the doom and gloom and try to find small rays of something positive. If all goes well, we should soon have the beginning of just such a ray of improvement.

Those who have worked on this project deserve our praise. It hasn't been easy arriving at this point but often, good things simply take time and energy.