Fort Wayne, Ind. (Indiana’s NewsCenter) – The City of Fort Wayne announced Friday morning that a new educational facility will be moving to southeast Fort Wayne.
Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry along with officials from Ivy Tech announced that the Public Safety Academy located on Patriot Crossing, behind the Wal-Mart and Menards along Lafayette Street, will remain an educational facility but will be subleased to Ivy Tech and rights to acquire the PSA’s title after nine years.
According to the press release issued by the city the PSA will remain the home of the Fort Wayne Police and Fire departments’ training academies and will be an important asset for the Fort Wayne Ivy Tech "South" facilitates as the trainees can pursue associate degrees.
Additionally, the PSA will continue as the regional venue for the ongoing, Indiana-mandated, in-service training required of all law enforcement officers. The Fort Wayne Police Department provides more than 18,000 hours of training each year to its officers and has supplied training to 98 departments in the region. Through the partnership, public-safety professionals will be able to secure advanced, professional certifications.
As a local, state and federal resource, the existing training opportunities presented at the PSA by various federal entities will also remain in place.
The effective blend of the Fort Wayne Police and Fire academies’ technical training skills with the teaching skills of Indiana’s highly regarded community college will augment the PSA’s public-safety training program, making it more attractive to first responders on a regional and national basis.
Other provisions of and facts related to the new arrangement are as follows:
- Ivy Tech–Northeast will sublease the entire 132,000 square feet of the PSA. Currently, the college utilizes in excess of 15,000 square feet of space in the structure;
- The Fort Wayne Police and Fire Department academies will lease approximately 38,000 square feet of space at $10 per square foot annually for the operation of their training facilities;
- All of the PSA tenant leases will be honored, with future options for renegotiation;
- The PSA will serve in its uninterrupted role as an Emergency Operation Center site for the City;
- At present, the City pays $225,000 in rent annually for the PSA space used by the police and fire departments. Ivy Tech pays nearly $150,000 for its yearly rent of space, also at a rate of $10 per square foot. These rental fees go to fund PSA operations. An additional City contribution of $400,000 was made to the facility’s budget in 2012;
- The new pact assumes the payment of $380,000 annually in rent by the City to Ivy Tech and the elimination of any additional City cost contribution moving forward; and
- Over the final phase of the PSA’s financing package, taxpayers will save approximately $300,000 per year, or $2.7 million throughout the nine-year agreement.
Ivy Tech Community College’s State Board of Trustees voiced its endorsement for the proposal at its meeting on August 9. Pending action by Fort Wayne City Council and all other necessary approvals, it is anticipated that the new sublease will be finalized and in place by the close of 2012.
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