 Good morning, everyone. Another beautiful day in Columbia, South Carolina. We're so excited to be here today as we announce the relocating of our City of Columbia Law Enforcement and Judicial Center as we're consolidating departments to need space across the city. And this is the first of, hopefully, many moves to bring our employees together. But we're so excited about moving here in 400 Laurel Street as we affectionately call it the Affleck Building, but soon to have a beautiful new sign on the side of it, announcing it as our Judicial Center here in CPD's office. Having our CPD here in our gateway, I think, really sends a positive message. But it also, it allows us to bring together our departments. One of the things that we've noticed over the years is that we're spread out. And for us to really work together in unison, you know, when you got leaders, specialists, officers, detectives, analysts all working together in one building, being able to share information and ideas, it's also really great for recruiting to show that we're invested in our law enforcement. As you can tell behind us, this is going to be a great project. Not only will we have the court system here, we'll also have our EOC here, Emergency Office, Management Office, but also Metro and our police headquarters. So putting more people together to allow them to collaborate, work together to protect our city in a united front. And we're so excited about that. You know, but several people want to know, well what are y'all doing with Justice Square? What are you doing with Metro? What are you doing with the corner of Bull and Taylor? Well, guess what folks? We're selling them. We're putting them back out there, putting it back on the tax rolls so that we can be consolidated and selling. We're selling close to about 13 properties across the city so that we can put that back in the tax roll as we consolidate and pull all of our employees together. We're very excited about that. And obviously we want to do everything we can to support our police department, support our employees as we continue to invest. Two years ago when we came together as a council as part of our strategic plan, we said we wanted to invest in the city first. That means investing in our employees, investing in facilities, investing in technology, training and allowing our employees to have the autonomy to do their job. Well, this is one of those tools, a center that will be filled with technology and allow us to really go after making sure that we're taking care of our community one block at a time, one officer at a time. With that I want to turn it over to Chief Skip Holbrook who can't contain himself, I don't know. He's got to contain himself just a little while longer, Mayor. Welcome everyone. I'm Teresa Wilson, City Manager and this is just an amazing day. I'm going to give a little more context. The Mayor certainly gave some great context. I'm going to go a little bit down history lane just really briefly because the Chief and I always feel like a little somewhat like we've been on a journey or still on a journey to being best in class and that started when William Holbrook Skip, our Chief, was hired in April of 2014 and so I think that this morning and all week as I've been planning for this day, it wasn't lost on me that his 10 years of service to the city is coming up next year and taking some of you out here today who are a part of the the initial journey starting when we were back in 2014 going on this national search for a police chief and at the time in Colombia there had been this revolving door. You know go back and look at the media reports that's the quote you'll always see and for me one of the best decisions I think I've ever made in my career and tenure here at the City of Colombia was having that search but also fulfilling the desires of this of our officers in our community, our council at the time with the best chief in the country and so at the time it was a little bit like a very bad episode of the bachelorette I think because there are these candidates who were here and we were going through this process and they all were great in their own ways but what stood out with Chief Holbrook was his uncanny, the candor, the transparency about as they were given the opportunity to have a little bit of time with the officers and our facilities. Some were coming back with you know data and policy and procedure type things but what stood out and he'll remember this a conversation that he and I had was about two things it was about the uniforms of the officers that he was noticing some inconsistency and look at them today in their class age y'all don't they look good let's give them a hand um but he talked about that was important to him to create pride in the culture of our officers and he talked about the facilities and the facilities over these last 10 years we've done what we can and we continue to do what we can but today is the day where we made some really key decisions to make transformational change and that is due to a lot of hard work that me recommend mentioned that this seated council is so encouraging of but it allows us to support our chief and his team he's a true cops cop he has shown that same determination during his interview process since then and as you all know as a community we've had lots of obstacles a 100 year flood a line of duty death social unrest and a worldwide pandemic but through all of that we've also had a lot of successes including organizational reforms a very focused effort on 21st century 21st century policing accomplishments our officers are now due to our council's commitment afforded a step pay plan and other operational improvements to help them do their jobs this facility to me really bookends a chapter in the police department where we have been focused on these organizational and operational tools to ensure retention and recruitment of the best officers and in turn a safe and secure columbia in this new chapter the police department is well positioned to continue to provide exceptional service delivery to our citizens businesses and visitors but in a state of the art facility which i know chief will talk about momentarily reflective of the growth and development that the city council is actively encouraging the location for the law enforcement and judicial center was chosen with intention and purpose near the i-126 gateway to columbia and it will welcome our citizens businesses and visitors to a safe and thriving city as referenced the center will also house the very important functions of the municipal court and some of our municipal court judges is here are here as well as our court administrator we're so thankful for them as well as our assistant city manager Pam Benjamin who oversees that function and our emergency management department led by harry tensley our director of emergency management is here as well the redesign of the building to accommodate these expanded operations will be accomplished in the next phases of the project the current phase though is to upvote the police department and it's underway and we're entering right now the initial design services with our amazing partner ls3p i want to thank mary beth brandham the principal in charge and her entire team they're here today we thank them including david anderson jason like as tyler mckinsey and nick day thank you great job so far in addition i would love to thank steve in a station i know us there he is earlier the managing partner with baker and baker real estate developers and his team for the partnership and collaboration during this acquisition thank you steve again thank you to our mayor and city council entrusting me and the staff with transformational projects that will serve as catalysts to ultimately spur private development and generate revenue in our city we're continuing to build a foundation here for responsible growth and we're concentrating on our internal spaces as you see and facilities but we're also trying to facilitate real estate and economic development opportunities citywide our ed staff and team is here we've hired a real estate professionals we're so thankful for ryan and grace and spencer who are here helping with that and again we're trying to be solutions oriented with the mindset to address impediments to growth identifying catalyst projects again and seeking these partnerships with real estate development and design professionals who can help us get this done our commitment is to create meaningful connections and vibrant spaces for our citizens businesses visitors and employees so with that i will now introduce our chief of police william skip holbrook and i will say it has been very fun to watch during this holiday season a grown man who is like a kid in the candy store energy and pride in this department for him is infectious and we're very thankful for this team thank you and i'll come back up afterwards to give a few more details and answer any questions i gotta try to keep it together i'm in my in my more mature age i'm really a kind of a pushover now i'm just i get i get wouldn't you all agree with that fish over you know first thank you all for being here i did not know what miss wilson was going to say and and thank you for everything that you said but when i when i start with my remarks you're going to see that what she said is aligned really interestingly with what i'm going to say and i don't think that's by chance we didn't discuss what we were going to talk about but i think it's important that leadership is aligned in the way they think and the and it's clear that um her vision for the city and public safety and in this department is certainly aligned with ours and i'm thankful for that so i bet most of you probably have no idea where you were march 21st 2014 at 9 a.m. in the morning i do it was a bright sunny day very similar to this morning a little bit warmer but i was standing at a podium like today i was flanked by rank and file officers and city staff and cpd staff just like today and the city manager and the mayor spoke just like today the difference was on that day and this was miss wilson was introducing me as her selection to be the next columbia police chief and we were also positioned in front of the century old 32 000 square foot police headquarters at one justice square that day was truly the capstone moment in my career leading a state capital police department you having the confidence and encourage backbone to select me it gave me an opportunity of a lifetime and and i'm forever grateful thank you so much for that today however is what i would refer to as capstone moment 2.0 for me is i stand here with with all of you in front of this iconic aflac building or i should say the building previously called the aflac building and now forever referred to as the city of columbia law enforcement and judicial center police headquarters what started is the the best kept secret quickly transpired and transitioned to become the worst kept secret and it's now the most exciting announcement that i think at modern times we've ever made at the police department and it's kind of a running joke when we talk about it being the worst kept secret i've you know literally talked in code and generics to staff for months and months and i've groveled and pleaded with the city manager to for us to be able to announce today like we are and share with staff and this happens to be a day that we're recognizing some achievement and a luncheon so it couldn't be more more perfect um as i said none of this would have been possible without our city manager supporting and advocating for this major investment the mayor championed the idea and working behind the scenes with stakeholders to clear a pathway for acquisition then of course our city of columbia executive team that collectively supported the work and went to work in their areas of responsibility and and that's not lost on me when when we began pursuing this potential opportunity the the assistant city managers that have tremendous responsibilities that cover touch every part of our city they all just they were all behind it they said chief we need this our city needs this the police department needs this and and i will forever be indebted to them for that for that support because it does take a team to to do a project of this of this magnitude and of course our our city council each member wholeheartedly supporting this historic opportunity to improve and advance public safety in our city miss wilson mayor rickmond councilman brown councilwoman bustles our acm's henry simons jeff palin missy gentry pan benjamin of course kevin keesler and the support services staff just everybody behind this project so far it's been incredible to work with so why is this building so important so let me explain besides the fact that the headquarters building that we're currently occupies over a sensory old pales and sizes 32 000 square feet as the mayor mentioned we are really spread out all over this city and not by design we have 11 different locations we have four region offices a traffic unit victim advocates our criminal investigations bureau divided in half our bluff road annex our training division property and evidence our busby street annex our code enforcement and canine that's a lot of assets spread out all over the city the fact that we are so spread out creates a number of issues logistic logistically challenging impede efficiencies communication and just general workflow this new law enforcement judicial center will provide adequate space for centralization of all core bureaus and units and what and this is important at our full staffing level and future staffing levels as our city grows the headquarters will include the police administration officers the chief patrol bureau criminal investigations community services bureau administrative bureau victim advocate offices our records unit tru front desk meaning that's accessible easily accessible and comfortable for all of our visitors our special events office public information office marketing and communication office our eoc and real-time crime center self-service cafes on multiple floors in the building for our employees recruiting and training center a one-stop shop you walk in the door you get processed backgrounds onboarded and then your training begins our fitness and wellness facility for our employees locker rooms and showers our metro region office public meeting space in a state-of-the-art municipal court facility this building will be welcoming and inviting to the public who are our customers who have business here but while also maintaining important levels of security to protect our police and protect our citizens that are visiting the building will exude professionalism in a spirit of policing excellence that culture of excellence the high standards and expectations that we have of each other as well as the history and the traditions of the police department will be evident on every floor we want this facility to be one that our citizens are proud of and our employees are proud of when somebody walks in this building that's considering a career in law enforcement we want them to immediately know where they are and leave no doubt that they have a career at the columbia police department i'm proud of our employees i'm proud to lead this department this this building is going to be a reflection of the priority and value the city manager the mayor and our council put on investing in our employees their wellness and the facilities that we work work in every single day thank you so much again for being here today and miss wilson mayor recommend thank you all for championing this and making it a reality thank you thank you so i wanted to also um give a few stats and these this information certainly will be provided to the media and anyone else who would like it we welcome the opportunity for you to look at the boards look at some of what chief was describing about the facility it is over 172,000 square feet it is six floors and on about seven acres almost so we are very fortunate to be able to have growth and expansion opportunities we're a but we are budgeting an initial 11 million dollars including that includes the lease we are leasing to own this building that includes operation and maintenance design services the outfit and construction costs and contingency so all of that would be our phase one approach and our cfo is here and he and i fortunately have tried to maintain a healthy general fund cash reserve for the city of columbia you often hear us talk about the importance of responsible fiscal um planning and we're continuing to do that we know that communities you know everything's important in cities and towns and counties but as a manager i do know that two things stand out and that's being fiscally responsible with the finances of the city and public safety and so these two things are blending with this particular opportunity very nicely thus far we will lean into those funds and interest earnings to bundle a funding package for this project as we go these costs are pretty preliminary and probably will hopefully go down because this is a good turnkey facility there are a lot of things as you'll see in the photos and what chief mentioned that we're able to really go in and and utilize and that again comes from this approach for being intentional with working with developers like baker and baker and other partners who understand the benefit of us as a city being able to grow in this way but also sell properties that we have as merrick mentioned and and imagine hint hint all the developers in the world one justice square coming on the market in the heart of the vista so yeah intentional purposeful planning i want to thank senator harpooley and for being here this is his district and we love that he chose to join us today um i really do want to reiterate my thanks to our executive management team this couldn't be done without them as chief said henry simons who's the acm over operations and facilities as falls under that jeff palin our assistant city manager and chief financial officer message entry i think is under the weather but she's overdevelopment pam benjamin i mentioned earlier one of her areas is municipal court and clint shealy is over columbia water and we can't do anything without our neighbor who's right here um at the canal columbia water um in all of the teams in the city it is very true that all of our teams know sometimes we sacrifice for things that have to rise to the top at the time and oftentimes it is public safety functions and so everybody leans into that including the wonderful public relations staff that's here our marketing and communications team our newest member jay anna carter who works with the police department and myself specifically so we're thankful we're thankful in this season of uh of being thankful in the holidays