Police department curb appeal to be improved

The front of the Sidney Police Department property on Illinois Street is getting a facelift.

A Cabela's leadership team has taken on the project in collaboration with the City of Sidney and other local businesses.

"I'm sure everybody has noticed and if not, they should have noticed, that the front of our building was cosmetically unappealing and rapidly becoming more so as time went on," Sidney Police Chief B.J. Wilkinson said. "Some of the old substructure out there, that existed since this place was a Tastee-Freez, had begun to deteriorate pretty badly."

In 1986, the police department moved into the former fast food restaurant for a temporary home. Two decades later, it's still there.

Wilkinson said over time, water seeped between cinder blocks that formed a retaining wall between the front of the building and the sidewalk.

"The timbers that were on top had started to rot, paint was peeling off and it looked pretty bad," he said. "When I first became chief, it got on my radar that it was a project I wanted to tackle at some point in time."

Last year, a Cabela's leadership team was looking for a project, and Wilkinson submitted the idea. Although a different proposal was ultimately selected in 2014, another leadership team is back this year.

"This year, it popped backup on their radar again," Wilkinson said. "And this group said, 'We've looked at the front of the police department, and we agree with you.'"

An initial meeting took place two weeks.

"They came down and met with us, and it's a group of [Cabela's] employees inside their leadership incubator," the chief explained. "They challenge these folks to take on a project, relatively short term, engage the community to help develop a network of resources, sweat equity, all of it. Once they've completed whatever that project is, they put together a presentation that they us internally about the development of the project and how it got executed and what they learned in terms of leadership skills."

The city's contribution to the project has been the heavy lifting, Wilkinson said.

Last week, city staff brought in heavy equipment to tear out the old retaining wall and clean up the site, adding new fill dirt.

On Friday, the leadership team will get its hands dirty as landscaping work begins.

"They're going to build a small retaining wall for the new slope that slopes to the sidewalk, and I understand that they'll be some bushes, trees or flowers that are going to be planted out there," Wilkinson said.

The end result will be an improved curb appeal, the chief said.

"That coincides with the mission of Keep Sidney Beautiful, it coincides with our code enforcement efforts, it coincides with a whole lot of things," he said.

While the police department is hoping for a new building in the near future, the chief it's unknown when that will happen.

"But quite frankly, until then, we need to do all that we can to do our part to make our main street look as good as it possible can," he added.

Work is expected to wrap up in the next two weeks.

"If we look warm and welcoming and cared for, I think it helps establish trust," Wilkinson said of the department's building. "I think it's important for us to look good. If we were to move next week, next month, next year, the improvements that we do to this building, whether the city keeps this building and repurposes it for something else – whether it gets sold – improving our appearance is a good thing regardless of that."