Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – An agreement for the City of Jonesboro to lease a building from First United Methodist Church (FUMC) Jonesboro for a new police department is being proposed.

Jonesboro Mayor Harold Copenhaver announced the proposal during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

“We’ve been provided an initial proposal, and I’ll get that to you, on the possibility of the First United Methodist Church facility, maybe it could be used possibly for a potential police station in the City of Jonesboro,” Copenhaver told council members. “I wanted to make you all aware of that. I’ll be getting you the draft of that document, so you’ll have time to look over it, that way it’ll provide you the questions and you can have questions as we move through that process. Again, it’s the beginning phase.”

According to the proposed lease agreement, which is in its draft phase, the city would lease FUMC Jonesboro’s youth building, which is about 36,000 square feet and three stories tall.

If approved, the leased building would act as a second police station, rather than replace the existing facility located at 1001 S. Caraway Road, Jonesboro Police Department Chief Rick Elliott told JRN.

The second police building would house police operations currently located in various government buildings across the city. Those operations moved after a structural issue caused the Justice Complex, located in downtown Jonesboro, to be vacated.

READ MORE: Services in Justice Complex to be temporarily relocated

“As far as the square footage, it would certainly be adequate enough to take care of the needs of the police department for today and in the future. I think if some of the details can be worked out, this would be a possible solution to an ongoing issue with buildings and the lack of buildings for police services,” Elliott said.

Chief Administrative Officer for the city, Brian Richardson, told JRN that leasing the facility would likely be less expensive than building a new police station, which could cost upwards of $15 to $20 million.

“It started with a conversation with FUMC that they might be interested in partnering with the city on some facility usage,” Richardson said. “They’re downtown, and I know that was big discussion point during the Real Time Crime Center discussion, and obviously, they have some facility space that they feel like they could help benefit the city and partner with the city on.”

| READ MORE: Task force recommends Washington Avenue location for E-911 Center

The agreement lists rent for the facility starting at $375,000 per year and gradually increasing to just under $410,000 per year over a period of five years, although the agreement notes that those prices are “to be discussed.” If approved, Richardson said funds would likely come from the city’s general fund.

“There’s certainly some benefits towards leasing a building long term, if that option were to come to fruition and be approved,” Richardson said. “In the long-term, if you can lease a building for considerably less than you can build a building for over 10 or 20 years, and I think that certainly has to be considered. You know, what’s the best value for the taxpayers and also the best benefit for our public safety officials?”

If the proposal does move forward, police operations are not expected to impact church activity, including Wednesday and Sunday services, Elliott noted.

After the city council meeting on Tuesday, the proposal was sent to the Jonesboro city council members for them to consider and ask questions. Richardson added that conversations would continue with FUMC Jonesboro leadership, with the goal of creating an agreement that is “palatable” to both sides.

Both Richardson and Elliott emphasized that there was still much discussion to be had about the proposal and that the decision ultimately fell to the Jonesboro city council.

“There’s a large financial component to this thing, and at the end of the day, it’ll be up to the city council to make the final decisions,” Elliott said. “We’re just bringing information to the table, and again, I think it’s important that it all be openly discussed in council forum and come to a general agreement on which way they want to move forward.”