After more than a year of watching construction crews erect the new Eureka Government Center, the public had the opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the finished building on April 12.
City Clerk Julie Wood said about 1,000 people came to the open house, where city staff provided tours to small groups.
The building will house the city’s Police Station, called the Michael A. Wiegand Justice Center, Municipal Court and City Hall. Wood said staff will most likely move into the Government Center in May.
“We were really thrilled with how many people came through,” Wood said of the open house. “I think it was a success.”
Crews demolished the old Eureka City Hall on Jan. 11, 2024, to make way for the new government center, located at the corner of Hwy. 109 and Legends Parkway. The address of the new building is 120 City Hall Drive.
The city paid Integrate Construction of St. Louis $11.5 million to build the government center.
The project was funded by a combination of Proposition E sales tax revenue and proceeds from the city’s $28 million sale of its water and sewer systems in 2022. The Prop E 1/2-cent sales tax was adopted in 2018 to fund public safety-related uses, including the Police Department portion of the new facility.
City Hall
As visitors walk up to the entrance of the Government Center, they will see a plaque dedicating the building to voters who approved Prop E. The plaque reads, “The city is forever grateful to our residents and local businesses for their support, and for generously providing the resources needed for us to serve our community today and in the future.”
Past the main doors, there are three counters for visitors to speak with staff of either the Police Department, Municipal Court or City Hall.
On the right of the main lobby is the entrance to the chamber area where public meetings will be held, including for the Board of Aldermen and Planning and Zoning Commission.
The chamber area has a dais for elected officials with desktop computers and microphones. Wood said a mounted television will allow officials or visitors to make presentations, and the city will be able to easily stream meetings online using updated equipment.
Wood also said windows, dais and doors are all bullet-resistant in the event of a shooting threat.
“(The chamber area) will be a very versatile room for us,” she said. “It’s state of the art.”
Behind the main lobby are City Hall staff offices, which haven’t yet been fully furnished, Wood said. Many of the offices are still waiting for computers to be delivered. In addition, the staff’s key card access isn’t yet set up, she said.
City Hall staff have worked in the Public Works Department’s office space since the original building was torn down last year, Wood said.
“We were kind of working in a cramped space,” she said. “We’ve been sharing a lot of offices. We’re excited about being in our own spot here in the building.”
Municipal Court
To the north of the City Hall offices, down a long corridor, is the Municipal Court. Large, rolling shelving units will be used to manage records by the court clerks.
The Eureka Municipal Court is a division of the 21st Judicial Circuit in St. Louis County.
Wood said the Eureka court processes about 2,000 cases in a year.
“Municipal Court clerks’ roles are similar to those of the clerks at the Circuit Court, the clerks do all the roles within the municipal division, like case processing, from start to finish, budgeting and accounting, records request and retention and customer service,” Wood said. “They’re really their own department. I deal a lot with them, with support or reference requests and things like that, so I get the pleasure of working with them, but a lot of people don’t actually interact with them too much, because they are separate.”
Police Chief Michael Wiegand cuts the ribbon with prominent members of the Eureka community.
Police Station
The Government Center transitions to the Police Station further down the long hallway past the Municipal Court. Locker rooms, which double as storm shelters, are available for officers. Each officer is assigned a locker that is well-ventilated to allow equipment, like boots and vests, to fully dry in between shifts. Wood said this would prolong the life of the equipment.
Across the hall from the locker rooms is a wellness area and employee breakroom.
The Eureka Police Support Fund donated $80,000 to the city to purchase exercise equipment for the wellness area. The room includes a wall of weights and cardio equipment like treadmills and ellipticals.
“Everyone is extremely grateful for their contribution to our city,” Wood said.
Beyond the wellness area is the Police Station portion of the building, which will be closed off to the rest of the city staff once the building is occupied, Wood said. The back of the station includes a weapons storage and gun cleaning area, a fingerprinting room and interrogation rooms.
Wood said the evidence room has a “rigorous chain of command” to ensure items are processed correctly.
“There are only a few people allowed through here, so when we get to court, we can actually get a prosecution versus a throw-out,” she said.
The front portion of the Police Station includes offices for the chief of police and detectives, cubicles for sergeants called a bullpen and an officer training room.
The multipurpose room has a shooting simulator, donated by the Eureka Police Officers Support Fund, said Chief Michael Wiegand. The simulator, which cost about $40,000, has 400 preset mock emergency situations to allow officers to practice making quick, accurate decisions under pressure, he said.
Wiegand said the simulator will allow officers to practice at any time without making a trip to the shooting range, regardless of whether they’re on a night shift or day shift.
At the far, northern end of the government center is the jail, with a sallyport used to transport arrested individuals. The drive up to the sallyport is fenced off and only accessible by the Police Department.
There are four jail cells in the station with three allocated for adult men and women and one for juveniles, Wood said.