After more than a decade of working out of a portable office building on Oil Well Road in Golden Gate Estates, the Collier County Sheriff's Office is getting a long-awaited substation to serve the fast-growing area.
County commissioners joined Sheriff Kevin Rambosk for a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday, for a new 8,500 square-foot building that will be built next to EMS Station 10 on Immokalee Road. Last month, the commission budgeted more than $3 million for the facility, which will have interview, conference and squad rooms, and housing for a mobile command unit.
The current substation building was meant to be temporary when it opened in 2005.
"We've had incidents of gunfire through the facility over the years, and it's just not a safe place to house our people," Rambosk said.
People taking shots at the double-wide trailer has been just one of the issues that the small building has faced in the past decade. Besides feeling cramped for the 34 deputies assigned there, Lt. Sean Arthur said that the substation isn't even adequate shelter in severe weather.
"When we have a tornado warning...we do have a full-time secretary that sits in here," Arthur said. "We have to get her out due to the fact that it is a trailer."
Rambosk believes the new building will present a more professional workspace for deputies.
"This will give us a great opportunity to be able to work together with residents and deputies," Rambosk said.
Construction on the new substation is expected to begin within the week, and should be completed by December.
