Mannford Making Way For New Public Safety Complex

The City of Mannford is making way for a $10 million Public Safety Complex to house police, fire, EMS and city hall.

City Manager Gerald Haury said building a new complex is long overdue with mold, ceilings caving in and walls cracking in their current facilities.

But before Mannford's Public Safety Complex can go up, the old Phelps Grocery Store building must come down.

Demolition crews have been hard at work for more than a week, tearing apart the building that was the center of town for decades.

Phelps Market moved to a highway front property about eight years and that is when the city bought the old Phelps property with plans to one day upgrade its city facilities.

Haury manager said in December the city council approved building the Public Safety Complex. It will not raise any taxes, instead, it is being funded through a sales tax voters approved in 2002.

The demolition has been the talk of the town and a lot of folks have stopped to watch the progress, like Pat Kreeb, who worked at the barbershop next door for 40 years.

"I'm just watching an old, how would you say, namesake disappear and it's kind of a sad day,” said Kreeb. "Oh a lot of memories, yeah. and [I’m] kind of sorry to see it go, but progress is progress and it's good to see they're still gonna use it for a good deal.”

The city manager said once they move into the new facility, they plan on tearing down the old police, fire and city hall buildings, then selling the property, which overlooks Keystone Lake and Highway 51.

Haury said they hope to start construction late summer or early fall. And it should take at least a year to complete.

He hopes to have renderings to share with News On 6 soon.