SUNBURY — The city is accepting bids to renovate its new Police Department building, as well as its Municipal Building.

The Sunbury Police Department will be moving into an existing building at 220 N. Columbus St. It currently shares space with the city’s mayor and administrative staff in the Municipal Building, 9 E. Granville St. The Municipal Building’s first floor and basement are also getting a makeover.

Earlier this year, two old houses were demolished on South Columbus Street across from the Municipal Building, where a new building will house some of the growing city’s staff in the future.

Bids will be received at the Municipal Building until 11 a.m. June 29, where they will be read aloud in the Main Conference Room.

The police give reports to Sunbury City Council on a regular basis. On Feb. 1, it was announced that Big Walnut Schools will now have a full-time school resource officer from Sunbury PD, Justin Whiteside. Also, the police are patrolling the school zones more and issuing more speeding tickets.

“Finally got word that our cruiser we ordered in February of 2022 does exist,” led the Police Report to council on Feb. 15. “We can expect the Tahoe we ordered a year ago at the end of March or beginning April. We have contacted Parr Emergency Equipment and let them know we need to get parts ordered in for the cruiser to be upfitted around mid to late April.”

The report also noted that they “had two computers go down in our cruisers the last couple weeks.” Three computer tablets in all “are outdated (six and seven years old. The cost (to replace them) will be around $9,000.”

On March 1, Officer Robert Wilson was sworn in. It was also reported that there were 343 total calls for service in February, compared to 401 in January.

The meeting minutes of March 15 said Deputy Chief Shawn Wade told council, “The department is working on several projects for personnel management and time tracking. He reported that there has been an uptick of crashes in the area, they are working with (engineering) CT Consultants to look at speeds, timing on lights and other factors. They are also working with (architecture) ms consultants inc. on the new building design.”

Rob Howard is Sunbury’s chief of police. The city’s website said, “There are currently 12 full-time and 3 part-time police officers on the department with a fleet of 7 cruisers. The department covers 5.05 square miles and serves Sunbury 24/7.”

Sunbury PD is also seeking applicants for full-time and part-time police officers. For more information, visit sunburyohio.org/156/police.

Assistant Editor Gary Budzak covers the eastern half of Delaware County and surrounding areas. He may be reached at [email protected].