By approving the consent agenda at its April 24 meeting, the Chandler City Council took one of the first official steps toward building its first stand-alone forensic crime lab. Council approved a $4.42 million design contract with SmithGroup, Inc, to design the lab building, to be built on city property at Pecos Road and Hartford Street.
A year ago, there were Chandler City Council discussions about a potential partnership with the Town of Gilbert to build an all-new forensic police lab.
That discussion ended officially with a few recent announcements.
First, the city of Chandler published a meeting agenda that included a $4.42 million design contract with SmithGroup, Inc, for its new police forensic services facility.
Then, the week of April 21, the town of Gilbert announced that it will not pursue a joint crime lab project with the city of Chandler, choosing instead to develop its own forensic facility as part of a long-term public-safety strategy.
On April 24, the Chandler Council unanimously approved a consent agenda that included the design contract for its new lab.
Chandler, for its part, has been planning its own crime lab facility. The city secured a voter-approved bond in 2021 to build a facility and has had $65 million budgeted for it, but council members balked at the price tag, leading city administration to pause the project.
Gilbert still has an agreement to have the Mesa Police complete testing in its own lab, with five-year notice required to end the agreement.
Chandler has a small lab in its main police station that it says is at capacity in terms of not being able to conduct more or more-modern testing.
Chandler leadership has decided to build it on land it owns next to another police building along Pecos Road, east of Hartford Street. The full pricetag of the build could be discussed in the city’s daylong budget briefing, set for 8 a.m., Friday, May 2 in council chambers at City Hall.
City Manager Josh Wright told council during a March work session that negotiations were ongoing with Gilbert to help build the facility, though the city with or without cooperation from Gilbert and the lab would be in Chandler.
Wright told the Chandler Indpendent that between 2021 bond dollars and one-time general funds, the city should be able to award all contracts to build the facility as part of the fiscal 2027 capital project budget.
He said the breakdown in an attempted partnership had mostly to do with timing, as Chandler and Gilbert staff collaborate and discuss things well.
“They have a phenomenal police department and a phenomenal city manager and council,” Wright said regarding Gilbert. “We’re both interested in such a facility. But it all came down to timing. We’re just a little ahead of them, by about a year, and ready to move forward.”
Wright points out that the two municipalities continue to partner well on various collaborations, including one in law enforcement: Chandler uses and helps staff Gilbert’s city jail.
Chandler and Gilbert are also co-owners of the Greenfield Water Reclamation Facility.
Wright said the new forensic lab will be designed and built with room to grow. So it’s possible an agency with the same or fewer cases than Chandler could lease space in it later on.
“We could look at leasing out, once we see how day-to-day operations look for us in that new facility,” Wright said. “But not in sort of the co-owner type of arrangement that we discussed with Gilbert.”
Tom Blodgett of Independent Newsmedia contributed to this report.
Jason W. Brooks News Editor | Chandler Independent
Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.
Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.
Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.
Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.
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