BY LEW MOORES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COLERAIN TOWNSHIP -- Work could begin next spring, with completion by late fall, to double the size of the Hamilton County sheriff's patrol headquarters on Hamilton Avenue.
The patrol headquarters is 38 years old and was constructed at a time when the sheriff's patrol was smaller.
There are now 104 people assigned to work at the building, on Hamilton Avenue just south of the Interstate 275 interchange. The sheriff's patrol has simply outgrown the building, and the physical structure needs work after close to four decades of use, 24 hours a day.
Sheriff's department officials think better working conditions will make for better policing, said Stephen Barnett, director of community relations for the sheriff's office.
"It will make for a better working environment," said Mr. Barnett. "It should be brighter and cleaner and bigger. I know one of the problems they're having is the air conditioning. I think overall it will improve morale. Better morale hopefully means more production and more success."
Tom Speer of Speer & Associates, the downtown architectural firm hired to design the expansion, said construction will be complicated by the headquarters' 24-hour operation.
"Some of what we're going to do is figure out how we can phase it in and make it happen," Mr. Speer said.
He said the design should be done by the end of the year.
"We have to survey the building, the engineers and ourselves, as to the existing systems, the condition of the building," Mr. Speer said. "We need to get field measurements and document what's there as a basis for starting design work."
He said the most obvious problems are making the building secure, overcrowding and physical systems that are old and inefficient.
"Operations have changed over the years," Mr. Speer said. "The building probably worked very well when it was first built. But after close to 40 years, the way they operate is different."
