About a hundred people attended the unveiling of the new Andrews Public Safety Building Thursday morning on North Main Street. The facility is the new home of the Andrews Police Department and emergency medical service and will house several ambulances on the east end. Besides the ambulance bays, the building has a training room, storage, work rooms, evidence vault, interrogation room and more computers and equipment. The building was built by NE Construction on the corner of NE Ave A and Main Street and cost about $650,000.
Mayor Bob Zap, obviously excited about the new facility and direction of the community, said the city and other entities “have a dream,” and are working to ensure that Andrews remains a progressive and viable community for its residents, now and in the future. Other speakers included police chief Bud Jones who thanked the city council and residents for supporting the department. Jones specifically thanked public works director Larry Fleming who over saw the building project and city manager Glen Hackler for supporting the project and the police department. Additionally, Jones said the ambulance service would be upgraded this summer. Several area law enforcement officials attended the ribbon cutting, including from Midland and Big Spring as well as an official with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Hackler thanked those involved with getting the project completed saying the new facility was a sign that Andrews was looking toward the future.He specifically thanked the city council for the vision and support and Fleming, who was the project manager. He also credited Jones and city secretary Kitty Bristow for helping with the project as well as local architect Larry Donham and engineer James Tompkins.
“I thank God for blessing this community and providing us with the ability and resources to do so many things for the benefit of this community,” Hackler added. Over 500 people toured the facility during the day.